Andromeda: New Arrival
by Nathan-Daystorm
Summary: INCLUDES TEASER! Strange things are afoot, and no one knows where they may lead...the arrival of a strange boy may change all that. Heavily inspired by videogames and anime, just to warn you.
1. Default Chapter

**Andromeda**

**New Arrival**

**Teaser**

Disclaimer:  Don't own anything except the original characters.

Alright, this was meant only partially to be a teaser.  It was also meant to test out whether the italics and such were working.  

This was written while listening to the song "Without Taking the Jewel" from the game Chrono Cross, and a couple others.

A boy sits on a rock at the edge of a crystalline lake, his feet dangling, heavy combat boots almost touching the surface of the water.  We see his back at first, but slowly begin to circle the boy, revealing more than just his long black coat with gold trim and shoulder length silver hair.  There are silver scales dotting his body in patches.  There is one patch on the right cheek of his face, and the left side of his torso is covered in them.  His left arm continues the scales all the way down to a hand with long, scaled, muscled fingers that end in black claws.  There is a patch on his upper right leg, and one on his lower left.  He wears baggy, camouflage pants that tuck into his combat boots, and a t-shirt printed with three ragged, bloody claw marks on the chest.  His irises are shining silver as he gazes out across the lake, guitar resting in his lap.  A long sword sits on the ground to his right, sheathed for the moment.  He looks very much like the sorrowful swordsman who has lost something very dear to him.  He picks his guitar up, carefully compensates for his claws as he frets a chord, and he begins to play a sorrowful tune, one that sounded like sad reminiscence.

There is a sudden change of viewpoint.  We are higher up in the sky, and looking out over the entire width and breadth of the lake.  Images seem to dance across it like rapid-fire dreams.  A vortex of energy in a plane of gray.  A black robed reptile -no, reptilian man- chanting.  A young blonde man, Seamus Harper, being pushed out of a room, a fist following close behind.

The images are moving faster now, as the boy ends one song and begins another.  After a few seconds of what seems like hesitation, we swoop downwards and splash into the lake, only to discover that this lake seems to be a sea of memory.

Two men, located in a craggy wasteland, rain pouring down and bolts of lightning striking close enough to be seen.  The two men fight fiercely, wielding swords that flash with every bolt.  One is the reptilian man that we saw in the lake, while the other appears to be the same boy playing the guitar.only different.

There is a flash of gold and then we're swooping down and up again over a battlefield, both inside and outside an arena of some sort.  We circle the fighting from high above until we find him.  HE is the same boy from the previous vision, only this time not nearly as intense.  As soon as he is spotted, another image replaces the one we were just seeing.

A golden skinned girl with red hair falling backwards, and the boy from the previous vision rushes into the scene, catching her in a teary eyed grasp.

We pull away violently from that vision and begin to swim through the lake, but we find ourselves being assaulted with visions.

Tyr, with no shirt on, running towards the camera.  He swings at something, but apparently misses.

Trance looking up lovingly at the camera while walking through Hydroponics.

_Sylvanus_

We can hear through the water that the boy has begun to play a more violent song.

_I want to go back there._

A flash of the Andromeda Ascendant landing and Dylan, Tyr, and Beka rushing down the ramp, loaded for combat.

We look up at an angle at Trance, in Shakespearian costume, standing on a balcony.  We see a hooded man twirling a dagger directly underneath, gazing at her.

_I fought for them._

A flash of the two men from the craggy wasteland, this time in the air above that ground, blades flashing as they fly towards each other and then dart back again.

We see the combat over the planet again, this time picking out Dylan, Tyr, and Beka as well as the boy.

We see the boy shifting and changing, even as he fights alongside Trance and Rommie.

_This isn't over yet._

A flash of the boy playing the guitar, only he isn't in the same place.  He's standing on the roof of a restaurant, sword in hand, glaring at another figure.

We see a flash of black robes and black scales.

We see a man with red hair fading out of existence.

_I can't find them._

We see the boy from the craggy wasteland, his lower half trapped under a rock, yelling at Trance with his arm outstretched, palm towards her.

Boy:  Run!

We see the Andromeda dodging fire left and right, rocketing away from an unknown planet.

We see Dylan and Rommie fending off black, reptilian creatures.

We see the black robed man, standing on the tip of a stalagmite, cackling maniacally, arms raised, his body and face growing younger.

We see Dylan trying to calm Trance in the Infirmary, while Harper cries into Beka's shoulder and Rommie leans heavily against the wall.

_But they'll find me._

We see Trance, her hands loosely gripping the railing of the Obs. Deck, gazing out into space.

We see a joyous reunion onboard the Andromeda, but there is an ominous shadow watching in the distance.

We look up at the boy playing the guitar.  The water ripples, and he shifts into a shirtless, muscular, tan skinned, biker with leather pants, combat boots, an enormous sword, and sunglasses.  The water ripples again and we see the young boy from the combat on the planet.  There is another ripple and we see the boy in silver armor, with reptilian wings spread wide from his shoulder blades.  One final ripple, and we see the boy as we saw him when he began to play the guitar.

_And then. . .the real fight will begin._

We see hordes of the black reptilian creatures swarming over a Commonwealth star port, destroying it utterly and slaughtering everyone in sight.

We see the boy with the guitar leaping after the Andromeda as it lifts off.  The boy grabs onto the ramp and hauls himself in just as a sea of the black reptilian creatures crash below him.

We see the Andromeda and another ship.  They appear to be racing each other in space, and the other ship suddenly sideswipes the Andromeda.  They fire back, but they're spinning out of control toward a planet.

We see the boy with the guitar again, only now he's in the uniform of a Commonwealth Captain, sword at his side.  Dylan, Trance, Rommie, Harper, and Beka stand beside him, and all of them are gazing at the Andromeda's view screen.

There is a thunder crash, and the black robed man, now a boy with black scales in the exact opposite areas as the boy with the guitar, glares at the silver scaled boy.  The silver scaled boy glares right back.

Black:  Why was I summoned here?

Silver:  I could ask you the same question.

The black-scaled boy looks confused.

Black:  You didn't summon me?

Silver:  No, I didn't.  You didn't summon me?

Black:  What purpose would I have to summon _you_?

Silver:  Then who- 

Offscreen voice:  _I _did.

And finally, we see the two boys, silver and black, standing with questioning glances, looking at an out of breath man with feathery bird wings doubled over, gasping in air.

Bird:  He is here. . .the Devourer has come. . .he is here. . .all will perish.

The eyes of both boys go wide with shock and fear as we fade into oily blackness.  Slowly, from out of that oily blackness, rise words in silver and black letters, alternating between the two.

_New Arrival_


	2. Prologue

**New Arrival**

**Prologue**

Disclaimer:  Well, here it is, the tedious bit of disclaimer before the story!  You've probably read thousands of these by now, but y'know, I have to cover my back end.  Ahem.  **+**Takes on a business-like voice+  I do not own Andromeda, or any of it's characters/locations/etc.  I DO own any original characters I use for the story, as well as any locations/etc. that I create.  If you want to ask me about using them, drop me a line via e-mail (CARNAGE533@aol.com) or if you post a review, add that in at the bottom if you'd prefer.  As long as you're polite I don't think I'll say no.  Just a hint.  And now. . .ON WITH THE SHOW!

Summary:  Ok, so I lied.  Sue me.  +Glances at his wallet+  Wait, I take that back, I'm too broke for a lawsuit.  Lol.  Anyway, this story picks up sometime after Ouroboros.  No real spoilers, as this is a semi-AU fic, except of course for the Ouroboros spoilers.  Harper's cured, Trance is no longer purple, yada yada.  Basically, the crew went through accepting the new Trance, and now something happens to make them doubt her again, and openly treat her badly.  This time, though, she has someone to turn to.  A mysterious new arrival on the Andromeda may change more than any of them guess. . .even him.  Also, I just want to state here that this is not by any means a SI fic.  I am not Hex, though he does have one or two similar characteristics.

Hex Mason, a human male that looked to be about seventeen years of age, sat around in his prison cell, waiting to be released.  He had been called in on some bogus charge, probably by one of the rival contestants who he had beaten in the tournament.  'I can't blame them' he thought to himself.  'If I was beaten down by someone who looked to be at least ten years my younger, I'd be pretty pissed off too.  Still, they could've framed me with a lighter charge.  I mean, murder is no joke, especially to these people.'  He laughed to himself softly, but cut it off as one of the local authorities entered the cell.  Hex began to get up, but the man, apparently human as well, waved him down.  "Hex Mason, I presume."

"Yep, that's me."

"I thought it was.  You did pretty good in the tournament, kid."

"Thanks.  So, what's up?  Who framed me?"

"Sorry son, nobody did."  Hex laughed.

"Seriously man, I've got things to do.  Who did it?  Oh, I bet it was Nova.  That punk seemed to have it in for me even before the tournament started.  Fake WWE wannabe."  The man shook his head, partially to say no, partially to wonder what the WWE was.

"Son, we have photographic evidence to prove the contrary."  Hex's jaw dropped halfway to the floor.

"Excuse me," he replied, when his jaw had decided to come back up and begin functioning again.

"Mr. Mason, we have photographic evidence that you killed a Mr. Simon Landers in cold blood.  And I plan to bring you down for it."

....................................

A few days later, aboard the Andromeda Ascendant. . .

"Captain Hunt, I'm picking up a distress call from a nearby planet, named. . .Sarenal, or something like that."

"Weird name," Dylan replied.  "Any video?"

"Yes Sir.  Shall I play it?"  Dylan gestured to the video screen.

"By all means."  The video screen immediately lit up, to reveal a boy that looked to be about seventeen years of age, flames and debris littering the background.  He was about 5'7" tall, and wore a light tan t-shirt, a pair of baggy black pants, and sturdy work boots in the old Earth style.  He looked muscular, and a sword was sheathed on his back, also reminding those who had studied that period of Earth's history of an older age.  He had a handsome face that Dylan guessed must normally look cheerful, but one that was drawn and serious now.  His eyes. . .there was something about them that made Dylan think the boy was older, older by far, than the rest of him implied.  It wasn't the color.  They were a dark brown, which was far from uncommon for human males.  It was something else, something. . .strange about it.  For a moment he stood in silence, as if considering something, and then he spoke.

"'Calling any ships in the area.  We have an emergency situation on Sarenal!'"  He paused, and this time looked somewhat. . .sheepish.  "'I'm afraid that it's actually my fault, or sort of.  There was a tournament, a fighting tournament, and I won.  Some people didn't like that, so they killed one of the other contestants and framed me for the murder.  My fans, however, didn't agree, and. . .well, you get the idea!'"  There was a loud explosion, and the boy was thrown to the floor.  "'We need some serious assistance down here, either an evacuation or some help quelling the mobs!  Innocent people are dieing, and. . .!'"  Another large explosion, this one creating a hole in the back wall, visible in the video.  The boy spun and saw a figure coming through the hole.  He called back over his shoulder, "'And hurry!  We've now got a bigger problem as well!'"  The video cut off abruptly.

"Andromeda, is that the entire thing?"

"Yes Sir."  He sighed.

"Please call the crew to the bridge."  He shook his head.  "Why do these things always happen to us?"

"I really don't know, Captain," Andromeda replied, before calling the crew.  "I really don't know."

....................................

"What've we got this time," Beka Valentine asked as she strode swiftly onto the bridge.

"A distress call from-"

"Sir," Andromeda interrupted loudly.  "I've just detected a massive force of ships heading towards Sarenal!  Smaller ones have already reached the planet!  I think we've found the source of the 'bigger problem'!"

"What are they," Dylan blurted, as Harper began heading towards him.

"They resemble Magog-"

"Oh nooo, we are NOT goin' down there!  Nuh-uh," Harper interrupted, shaking his head vigorously.

"For once," Tyr replied, striding powerfully onto the bridge and immediately to his normal position.  "I agree with the boy."

"I said they RESEMBLE Magog, Harper, not ARE Magog."

"Oh.  Then, um. . .what are they," the engineer replied.

"I. . .I don't know."  Harper blinked in surprise.

"Ya. . .don't know?"

"Yes, that's what I said," the android AI replied, stepping onto the bridge, Trance Gemini close at her heels.  The crew didn't give Trance any notice, and a pained look crossed her face briefly.

"But. . .well, aren't you supposed to be able to. . .," Beka asked, trailing off.

"Unless," the hologram representation of the ship replied, "that ship was constructed by an unknown race."  Dylan sighed.

"Well then, I suppose we'll have to go down there."

"Yeah," Beka agreed, "those people sure do need an evac."

"What about the boy," the hologram asked.

"What boy," Tyr replied instantly.

"Andromeda, play the video again," Dylan commanded.

....................................

"So you're telling me, CAPTAIN Hunt," Tyr was asking, putting emphasis on the word Captain like he did whenever he was angry, "that we're going to believe a boy, a BOY, that is a stranger to us?"

"Tyr, we've got confirmation that there's already an attack going on down there, and that there's an even larger one headed for it.  Are you really going to abandon the whole of them just because there's a POSSIBLE murderer?"  Dylan didn't give Tyr room to speak.  "Of course you are.  You're Tyr Anasazi."  Beka leapt to Tyr's defense.

"Hey, just because you're angry at the surprises doesn't mean you can go around insulting people like-"

"I think maybe you all need to remember there are INNOCENT PEOPLE down there," Trance cut in loudly, "and we're wasting time arguing UP HERE."  All conversation immediately stopped.  Finally, after long, tense moments, Tyr spoke up.

"The Gold One is right, we need to make haste if we want to have even a CHANCE of saving those people."

Trance grimaced at the way Tyr had said "Gold One" and silently vowed to try and make it up to them.

....................................

Hex was sweating, trying to keep the strange aliens from killing the jailers.  They were amazed that he was trying to help them, but to their credit, they were watching his back.  Of course, the only weapon Hex had was his sword, so he doubted he'd be able to do much.  'At least. . .if I want to get out of this unscathed' he thought to himself.

....................................

It had been a half hour since Dylan and the others had decided to help the people on that planet.  Trance and Harper were to stay there, while Dylan, Tyr, Beka, and Rommie went down to see what they could do about assisting.  If an evacuation was necessary, Trance and Harper would land the ship and start helping people get aboard.  They were going to land in what had been reported to be a fairly safe space, about a mile from where the fighting was taking place.  "I hope they appreciate this gesture," Dylan mumbled.  "And what to do about the boy. . .?"

....................................

About three hours later. . .

"That was some of the most INTENSE fighting I have ever seen," Hex said wearily.  He was talking to a man who had identified himself as Dylan Hunt, Captain of the starship (or had he said warship?  Hex couldn't remember) Andromeda Ascendant.  "You guys were awesome."  Dylan inclined his head.

"Thank you.  And thank you for alerting us to the problem down here."  Hex nodded.

"Not a problem.  One do-gooder to another, y'know, I didn't really think anybody was gonna get it.  Figured we'd all die down here."

"Do-gooder," Beka asked.  "We don't even know whether you're a murderer or not."

"Look, I give you my word I'm not."

"Which is exactly what a murderer trying to convince the unwitting getaway drivers to take him in would say."

"And if I could offer you proof?  What then," Hex asked.

"That depends on the proof," Dylan cut in quickly, before Beka lost her temper.  Hex gestured to a pretty girl standing nearby.

"At the time they said this guy was murdered, I was in a bar called 'Hope's End' flirting with her."  He flashed her a smile, which she returned warmly, albeit a bit shyly.  "I've got ten people that can say the same thing."  He gestured with his head in the general direction of east.  "C'mon, I'll show you."

....................................

An hour later. . .

"You are hereby cleared of all charges, and given the honorable send off a noble warrior deserves.  Along with the reward money from the tournament."  Hex laughed and shook his head.

"Don't worry about the reward.  Keep it, and use it to rebuild, compensate families, that sort of thing," he replied nonchalantly.  "As for the honorable send off, your people are needed elsewhere.  I appreciate the good-bye you've given me already, and there are definitely some people that need your attention more."  Tyr's jaw was hanging open.

"Boy, the reward for that tournament is 200,000 thrones," he nearly shouted.  Hex simply nodded his head.

"Exactly.  And 200,000 thrones would certainly help rebuild and compensate, don't you think?"

"But. . .we have to give you something for what you've done for us, Mr. Mason," the representative cut in.

"First of all, call me Hex.  Second of all. . .well, I'd do with a bit of information.  I came here looking for a man named Dr. Ravonas Kincaid.  He's a humanoid male."  The representative waited for the rest of the information to be relayed, but none was forthcoming.

"I'm sorry, you'll have to be more specific."  Hex almost seemed to sigh and spoke again.

"His skin, it's a rather odd color-"

"THAT man!  Yes, he was here.  I had the displeasure of meeting him, in fact."

"Displeasure," Hex asked, an amused look on his face and an amused tone in his voice.

"Yes.  I suppose there wasn't anything in his behavior that necessarily put me off about him, it was just that some of the things he did-"

"Do you know where he went," Hex asked, cutting the representative off abruptly.

"He said he was going to continue his work, that's all.  And the way he said it, well. . .none of us wanted to ask where that meant, if you take my meaning."  Hex nodded.

"Understandable, and believe it or not, you've helped me immensely.  Moreso than any amount of money ever would.  I'll be sure to repay the favor someday, you have my word."  He flashed the representative a charming smile, waved goodbye, and then walked to catch up with his new friends.  "Captain Hunt, I'm glad I caught you.  Does that offer about hitching a ride with you still stand?"

....................................

About an hour and a half later. . .

Harper and Trance were at the landing ramp to meet their three friends and a guest.  Hex looked up to see whom else he would be making friends with and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Trance.

The first thing he noted was that she was immensely beautiful.  The second and third were the same.  There was something else about her, as well, and he nodded satisfactorily at whatever it was.  And the fourth was that she was obviously in a fair amount of emotional pain.  She looked out of breath, as well, like she had been taken by surprise instead of being informed they were coming.

The other man seemed to be a friendly sort, skinny and jovial.  He had curly blonde hair and was somewhat short, though considering his own height; Hex didn't have room to talk in that area.  However, none of this is what made him decide to avoid this man.  It was the disgusted glance he gave the golden beauty before he began to run down to meet them.  Hex wasn't sure why, exactly, but he was pretty certain that she didn't deserve that kind of glance.

That was why Hex walked right past Seamus Zelazny Harper, self-proclaimed super-genius and first-rate comic, and straight to Trance Gemini.  He gave her a slight bow and spoke softly.

"Milady, could I escort you to a more comfortable area of the ship?"

....................................

Everyone stood in shock at Hex Mason's behavior.  Harper was shocked he'd been completely ignored.  Tyr was shocked for the same reason, though his logic was that no one could ignore Seamus "Loudmouth" Harper.  Beka shook her head and chuckled and Dylan gave a sad tsk sound.

Trance, however, was shocked because she was not used to this behavior.  Especially after recent events, that someone, anyone, would behave this way towards her shocked her.  He reminded her of an olden time Knight, like in the plays she used to read, before the change.  She replied to him, in a hissing whisper, "What are you doing?"

"You look like you need to sit down, and I figured I'd be a gentlemen and help you out," Hex whispered back.  She smiled at him.  He had said something she'd needed to hear for quite a few weeks now.

"I'd appreciate your help, thanks," she replied, and leaning gently against this young boy's left side, they moved into the ship.

....................................

About five hours later, Hex sat alone in the guest quarters, relaxing.  He hadn't had much sleep since about two days earlier, and was hoping to get some now.

His hopes were dashed, however, when the jovial man from before, introduced to him as Chief Engineer Seamus Zelazny Harper, strode into the guest quarters.  "Listen, Hex, I'm gonna give ya some advice."  Hex, however, didn't let him get to his next sentence.

"No, YOU listen, little guy," Hex said, his voice considerably more commanding than it had been before.  It seemed. . .older than it should have, and carried more weight.  "I don't care WHAT you're advice is.  Considering the look you gave Trance, I can imagine what this is about, but if I'm wrong, stop me now."  He paused just long enough to give Harper a chance to speak.  His mouth hung open dumbly.  "I figured.  Now, SUPER-GENIUS," Hex sneered that, "get something straight right now.  I don't want to HEAR your advice concerning Trance Gemini.  You're head is most CERTAINLY not level right now, but I'll tell you what, the way you are all treating her is causing her a great deal of pain.  That's right little guy you're HURTING her.  Do you care?"  He was genuinely curious about that.  Harper answered his question immediately.

"Not in the slightest," he replied, and then intended to go on.  Hex didn't give him the chance.  He thrust out his hand, pushed the young man out the door, and slammed a fist into the wall scant inches from Harper's head as he went passed.  Harper was looking into his eyes at that moment, and for a moment, Harper could've sworn he saw silver flames in his eyes.

....................................

Trance was in Hydroponics, a place she frequented more and more in these recent weeks.  Her plants were beginning to be the only things she had to turn to any longer, now that her friends had abandoned her.  She didn't expect any visitors for quite some time.

Which is why, when she heard the footsteps coming from behind her, she tensed, ready to give a short reply and leave.  However, she noticed that whomever those footsteps belonged to, they were trying to walk as quietly as possible so as not to disturb her.  None of her former friends would be doing that, and she guessed that it was that guest, Hex Mason.  She turned around, and low and behold, she was right.  Hex smiled sheepishly at her.  "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."  She smiled, the tension leaving her body immediately.  She supposed he was handsome, and there was a look about him that made her think he was much older than he appeared.  It was as if someone had taken a human teenager, piled on burdens, responsibilities, and tragic incidents in his past, and then aged his eyes, his soul.  She realized, rather suddenly, that she was staring, and blushed.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare," she began.

"Don't worry about it, it's alright."  He glanced around.  "So, this place is for plants and nature?"  Trance nodded, and then explained.

"Part of it.  There's a recreational area here too.  I'll show you, come on."  She noted he carried his sword, and the knuckles of his right hand were slightly red.  "Did you get that in the fighting," she asked, gesturing to his knuckles.  Hex laughed and shook his head, but didn't say anything else.  She decided not to pester him, especially since he was being so nice to her.  She had no idea how long that would last, doubted it would be for longer than a day or two.  He'd find out what she'd done by then, and it would be over.

"I'm sorry," he said abruptly, and she nearly tripped.  It was as if he'd read her mind!  And he actually caught her when she almost tripped!  "And I'm sorry for that, too."  And with that, he quickly changed the subject.  "So, is this were people go to train?"

"For basketball, yeah," she said, a laugh in her voice.

"Oh.  Heh, I thought this was where people trained for fighting."  She looked at him then, into his eyes, and she decided that he didn't seem to be a man that would like fighting.

"Why do you want to fight?"

"Just to let off some steam," Hex replied.  "I guess. . .I just don't like being angry, that's all.  It doesn't suit me."  He shook his head.  "Not at all."  He looked around at the plants they were passing, gesturing with his hands to various plants on the wall.  "This, this suits me."

"You like plants?"

"I like nature in general, yeah.  It's peaceful."  He stopped walking, seemed to consider something.  "I think, while I'm here, I'll visit this place a lot.  What's it called?"

"Hydroponics," Trance replied.  He chuckled.

"A scientific name.  I think I'll give it one of my own, if you don't mind."  She smiled.  She really did like this man.

"Sure, go ahead.  Hey, maybe it'll stick!  I never did think such a big, fancy word suited this place anyway."  He closed his eyes for a moment, as if remembering something, and then spoke, in a rich, lush voice.

"Sylvanus."  He stopped, opened his eyes, and gave her a sheepish smile and self-consciously scratched the back of his head.  "I heard it meant 'Sacred Garden' in some old language.  I figured it suited this place, with all the plants, and the soothing effect it has."  Yes, Trance decided, she DID like this man.  "Say, I'm feeling a lot better."  He smiled.  "And it's only partly because of the plants."

"What do you mean?"

"I think the good company had something to do with it."  He smiled slightly at her blush.  "Hey, you think you want to show me where to get something to eat?  I'm starving."  There was a hopeful smile on his face.  "My treat?"  She smiled and nodded.

'Yes' she repeated to herself, 'I really, REALLY like this guy.'

....................................

Harper was still standing in the hallway outside of the guest quarters, staring, openmouthed, at the wall.  "Um. . .Rommie," he called uneasily.

"Yes," the hologram answered, appearing a few feet to his left.

"A human, especially a seventeen year old one, shouldn't be able to punch a dent in ya, right?  Like, nearly a hole."  The hologram nodded.  "Then, um. . .how do you explain this?"  The hologram looked at it.

"Harper, I think maybe you've got to be more careful where you're unleashing your temper."

"No, it wasn't me, it was Hex," Harper mumbled.

"What?"

"That guy, Hex.  We had a little. . .talk, and he got mad and hit. . .wait, how do you not know about this?  Privacy mode wasn't engaged in the guest quarters, and you really should be able to sense a dent like this."

"I did sense the dent, I just thought something was wrong with my sensors and was going to ask you to fix me later."  She grimaced, an expression she picked up from her crew.  "As for the other thing. . .that I don't know, Harper."  Harper nodded.

"Great.  I think I'm going to go tell Dylan about this."

"No, I'll tell Dylan.  Hex is. . .," she paused for a moment, and then shook her head.  "I don't know where he is.  It's like he isn't here."  As if on cue, she suddenly detected him.  "With Trance, in the Mess Hall!"  Harper nodded and walked off, taking the shortest route to the Mess Hall.  Just as Andromeda was about to report to Dylan the oddness of their new guest, she detected something more important.  She disappeared, and reappeared on the bridge.  "Dylan, Drago-Katsov, coming in fast!  A lot of them!"

....................................

"Harper, Beka, Tyr," Dylan's voice sounded on the ship-wide intercom.  "Command, now!"  Trance looked glumly down at her plate.

"He didn't call my name," she said, in a pained whisper.  She looked up to see Hex drawing his sword and suddenly he was grabbing her arm, dragging her with him.  "Hey, where are we going," she asked, shocked.

"To Command," Hex replied.

"But Dylan-"

"Dylan's holding a grudge that'll get us all killed!  Forget about him!"  Trance tried to argue with him, but Hex made it very clear that he was ignoring her.  And that's the way the two of them ended up on the bridge, Trance being dragged in behind Hex, to the shocked faces of all the crew, except, of course, for Tyr.

....................................

"What's SHE doing here," Harper asked, in a disgusted tone.

"Remember our chat, little guy," Hex commanded, and Harper actually backed off.  "Now, Captain Hunt, what's going on?"  No one said anything, and Hex knew why.  He knew what was about to happen, felt his blood burning in his veins.  He knew he had to make this quick.  "Alright, look.  I'll make this plain and simple.  You people, all of you, save for Trance here, are stupid."  Shock registered on all faces, even slightly on Tyr's.  "You hold grudges, which is only human, TRUST me, I know.  But in certain times, you've got to get past those grudges.  Like, for instance, when suddenly the rest of the crew is needed on command, and there's the feel of an attack in the air, and-"  He cut off abruptly, realizing the last part of what he'd said, but deciding, in his anger, to continue anyway.  "And when you know DAMN WELL you're hurting a GOOD PERSON!  YOU ALL, ALL OF YOU, NEED TO GROW. . .THE HELL. . .UP!!!"  His voice was so loud and full of rage at the end that even Tyr backed up slightly.  He growled, and it sounded feral.  "Now. . .what is. . .going. . .on?"  Everyone in the room could tell he was straining to control his temper.  Dylan made his decision.  The boy had fought well on Sarenal, after all.

"Drago-Katsov," was all he got out.

"Good, when's the fighting start," he asked.  He didn't sound anxious.  Actually, he sounded desperate, and slightly panicked.  Trance reached out to take his hand.

"I think I should take you down to Med Bay.  You don't sound so good."  Her skin connected with his, and she recoiled, her fingers burning where they touched his skin.  She looked at him questioningly.  His grip on his sword hilt was suddenly so tight that his knuckles cracked.  The ship rocked with laser fire.  The look on Hex's face scared everyone as he violently sheathed his sword.

"Come. . .on. . .Trance.  Let's. . .go. . .to. . .Sylvanus."  He didn't attempt to take her hand, just turned and waited for her to nod.  He glanced back over her shoulder as they walked out.  "Remember. . .what. . .I. . .said."  And then he was headed to someplace called Sylvanus, with Trance.

"Hydroponics," Rommie said.  "That's what he calls it.  Apparently, it means 'Sacred Garden.'"  A day ago, Harper would've commented that no place Trance went was sacred.  Now, his eyes following the retreating back of Hex Mason, with muscles so tense he was surprised they didn't rip through his skin, he just kept his mouth shut.

....................................

Hex was trying his best to control himself.  He kept half reaching for his sword and stopping himself.  Trance had tried to reach for his hand at one point, but he noticed and shook his head, gesturing at the fingers that had been hurt the last time she had tried to take his hand.  She paused, her hand in mid-air.  She saw the brief flash of pain that came across his face when he shook his head, and she reached her hand out further, took his in hers.  It hurt, but she wasn't going to pull her hand away again.  He looked at her and smiled slightly.  A bit of the heat left his skin.  More laser fire rocked the ship, and the heat returned.  They walked on in silence for a few more moments, and then he said, "You have to be in pain."  From the sound of his voice, he was too.

"It's ok," she replied cheerfully.  It really did sound cheerful.  All the same, though, Hex removed his hand from hers.

"I'm sorry.  It's a. . .condition I have."  And they walked the rest of the way to Hydroponics in a companionable, if gloomy, silence.

....................................

It was then that things began going to hell.

Trance and Hex had been in Hydroponics for about two minutes before the real chaos started, but once it had, they knew it.  The holographic Rommie appeared before them.  "Trance, Hex.  The Drago-Katsov have managed to forcefully board."  Hex nodded.

"Are the doors locked?"

"Yes."

"Good.  Trance and I have weapons, we're big kids, don't worry."  He smiled at Trance as he spoke.  "If they DO manage to get in here, I won't let them hurt the plants."  His face grew serious.  "Or you."  Rommie quickly disappeared, deciding that this was private.  She, apparently, didn't hold any grudges.

Trance and Hex just stared into each other's eyes for the last few moments of peace they had left.

....................................

Those precious few moments went by, and the door burst open.  Hex was thrown backward, but stopped himself before he could do any damage to the plants, taking a small dart to the leg in the process.  Apparently, the entire objective on this little raid was Trance, because they grabbed her, knocked her unconscious, and immediately began hightailing it out of there.  And Hex would've been right behind them.

If, that is, he didn't suddenly feel so. . .very. . .sleepy.

....................................

Hex was in a familiar landscape.  He knew he was in his mind, knew what was going to happen next.  And, low and behold, when he looked down, he stood on a large rectangle of semi-reflective glass.  There was another slightly above his rectangle, to the right.  There was another, slightly below his rectangle, to the left.  It looked like a stairway.  He looked down at his rectangle, not wanting to look at either of the landscapes on the other rectangles.  "Ok, so get this over with already.  I want to wake up sometime soon."

What he saw washed away the indifference.  He saw Trance, and he saw Nietzscheans, and he saw Trance again, tied up on a ship, and then he saw what he'd been afraid to see since this little vision started.

He saw Dr. Ravonas Kincaid, standing over Trance, laughing.

....................................

"Y'know, I really wish we had Trance here to tell us what was goin' on with this guy," Harper said, looking down at the unconscious Hex Mason, lying on a bed in Med Bay.  Tyr grunted an agreement from his position in the corner.  Dylan nodded his head.  Beka, however, slammed her fist against a wall, and all talk was silenced.  For a few moments, that is, until Hex was up and made it halfway to the door before any of them realized he was moving.

"Easy Hex, easy," Dylan began.  Hex ignored him.  Tyr moved to intercept him and found himself on his back.  Rommie locking the door didn't seem like it was going to stop him for a moment.  He raised his right hand, and no one was sure what he was going to do with it, but whatever it was, he thought better of it and turned around.

"How long have I been out," he asked, barely suppressed rage tearing through it.

"About two hours," Dylan replied.

"Two hours, fifteen minutes, and forty-three seconds, to be exact," Rommie told him.

"Unlock the door," he growled.  Rommie shook her head.  He hunkered down, looking quite beastial and wild, crouching down on the balls of his feet, arms on his legs.  "Unlock the door or I will dismantle you piece by piece, and feed them to several different garbage dumps."

"Why is it so important for me to open these doors," she asked.

"Because-I can't tell you, you just have to trust me!"  Rommie laughed.  "Please!"  She didn't laugh at that.  He sounded desperate, panicked, and afraid.  But not afraid for himself.

"Trance," Rommie stated.  He merely turned and lowered his shoulder.

"I swear to you I will break down this door if you don't unlock it.  I'd rather not, but if you leave me no other choice, I will."

"Where is she," Dylan asked.

"With Ravonas.  Against her will.  Tied up.  Laughing.  No, not her.  Bastard Doctor.  Laughing.  Have to stop him."  He sounded half-crazed.

"Rommie, open the door," Dylan said.

"I don't think-"  Hex had removed his sword and started to cut into his arms.

"Andromeda, open the damn door!"  The door swooshed open, and Hex charged out, much faster than anyone had ever seen a person move.  The others looked at each other worriedly before following.

....................................

"Hex knows the Drago-Katsov are still boarded," Tyr called.  "How?"  Dylan simply shrugged.

"I'm taking this fight to more open ground," Hex roared back.  "We're above an uninhabited ice giant!  I'm going to board that ship and crash it into the ground!  Don't worry about Trance or myself.  We'll be fine."  He spat the next sentence.  "So will Ravonas.  But he won't be for long after that, I assure you."

"There are several thousand Nietzscheans down there," Rommie yelled back.

"They'll be fine unless they get in my way!"  Tyr laughed.

"And just what do you plan to do if they do?  My people aren't famous for being beaten by mere children."  The entrance to the enemy ship could clearly be seen from this distance, and Hex was less than feet from it.

"Kill them," he called back, and then he was on the ship.  Three Nietzscheans fell dead from sword slashes before they could get their weapons completely level with his chest.  "Trance," he nearly shrieked.  He sounded like a banshee made manifest, come to wreak revenge on those who had wronged him.  "Ravonas, if you've hurt her, I swear, you will wish you'd never been CREATED!!!"  Two more Nietzscheans fell, and blood splattered on him.  He didn't even seem to notice.

....................................

Hex saw Trance, tied to a metal pole, Ravonas standing over her laughing.  "Joke's on you, OH MIGHTY ONE," Hex roared sarcastically.  The man spun, and all of the crew behind Hex gasped.

Dr. Ravonas Kincaid was a thin man who looked to be in his mid thirties, though it was hard to tell for a few reasons.  First of all, his eyes were reptilian.  Second of all, his skin was made of black scales.  Third of all, he looked like some odd human-reptile hybrid.  Two legs, two arms, a body, a head, even white hair, but all of his skin was covered in black scales.  His face most definitely looked reptilian, complete with a snout and razor sharp teeth.

And then, suddenly, he was a pale-skinned human, with black hair, black robes, and yellow eyes.  He laughed again.  "Ah, so I was right," he said, his voice powerful and dark.  "This woman is your annan," he said, the last word said with an odd intonation, similar to the intonation that Hex had used when naming Hydroponics.  Hex let out a roar and charged into the nearby controls, forcing them to plummet straight down.  The crew of the Andromeda Ascendant thought about screaming, taking last breaths, praying, but then they looked at Hex, deep in concentration, eyes closed, arms outstretched.  And somehow, they knew they would not die here.  They didn't know how, they just KNEW.

And then there was impact.

....................................

The ship was torn apart, and the Nietzscheans were scattered all over the place.  They were alive, just scattered.  Ravonas stood in front of a tied up Trance, still sitting in the snow.  He now held a sword, a huge sword, one that even Tyr knew was beyond his limits of handling.  And yet, this thin man held it easily, even casually.  They all looked to Hex, hoping to see him pull a large gun out of thin air.  Instead, they got something better.

Hex was hovering in the air, back arched, arms outstretched, head looking up to the sky, legs spread apart.  His eyes and mouth were wide open, and his palms were upturned, fingers curling up slightly.  A pure white glow surrounded him, and when it cleared, there was a different person.

He no longer had long brown hair.  It was short, slightly spiky, and silver.  His body had matured a great deal, and he had enormous muscles, that made Tyr give an envious tsk sound.  A black leather biker's jacket adorned his upper body.  His skin was a nice tan.  Black leather pants adorned his lower body, complemented by heavy, black, gothic looking boots.  Dark black sunglasses covered his eyes, eyes that had seemed much older than his body mere moments before.  And in his hands, he held a sword exactly like the one Ravonas held.  Ravonas laughed.

"Going for the stylized look, I see," the Doctor commented, amused.

"At least I'm not clichéd," Hex-was it Hex?-replied.  "I mean, billowy black robes?  Come on, how stereotypical is that?  Really."  What drew all of the attention was the way the two men held their swords.

The blade had to be at least fifteen feet long by five feet six inches wide.  The handle was as long as Tyr's leg.  Those swords must have had an IMMENSE weight.  And yet, both these men were holding them casually, with ONE HAND.  Tyr's jaw dropped to the ground in astonishment, while Harper and Beka had to lean on Dylan to stay up.  Dylan himself wasn't looking all that healthy.  Rommie simply shook her head at the impossibility of it.  "Let the girl go and I may let you live for a bit longer, Ravonas."

"No chance, Hex."  Hex nodded and charged at the man, moving faster than any normal human should, especially holding a sword that large.  Ravonas slid to the right easily.

"Good.  Now, I can take Trance, and go."  He hefted Trance with his free hand and slung her over his shoulder.  She was awake, her eyes as wide as anyone else's.  He smiled sarcastically and gestured to the Nietzscheans with his head.  "This your army?"  Ravonas laughed.

"Perhaps, perhaps."

"You know I was lying about letting you live."

"Not this day, Holy Knight.  Not this day."  And Ravonas and the Nietzscheans simply disappeared.  Hex turned and headed back to the group.

"So, shall we go?"  And they suddenly disappeared, reappearing on the Andromeda Med Bay.

"Andromeda, privacy mode, Med Bay," Trance called.

"Acknowledged."

"Ok, so I bet you guys are all wondering what's going on," Hex said, and suddenly they realized Trance was seated, untied, on one of the Med Bay beds, and Hex no longer had his sword.  And, for that matter, he was the Hex they'd picked up from Sarenal again.  He waved his hand, and all their faces went blank.  Except for Trance's.  "Well, you see, it was like this.  The Nietzscheans tried to kidnap Trance.  I tried to fight them off, and managed to free her, but she had to go and hide, and I got hit with a dart that put me to sleep.  Trance came, I woke up, and all was well.  And because of this, whatever Trance did to make you so angry at her was made up for, and you're all friends again."  He paused.  "Oh, and Harper, that dent is from the Nietzschean attack, not me."  He glanced at Trance, smiled, and waved his hand again.

"So, like I was saying, you did a good job back there Hex," Dylan said.  "Guess there really WERE some jealous losers in that tournament."

"Indeed you did, boy," Tyr added.  "To free the Gold One you must have defeated, and probably killed, several of the Drago-Katsov.  I could have handled them all myself, but for a human, what you did is a miraculous feet."  He smiled and held up his hand.

"Guys?  I think maybe I'm gonna take a walk down to Syl. . .Hydroponics."  He turned to Trance and smiled.  "Care to join me?"  She smiled and took his hand, and noted a different kind of warmth when she did.  An affectionate warmth.  And, knowing now what he was, she sent the emotion back, knowing he could feel it.  He smiled at her and they walked out of Med Bay hand in hand, smiling at each other the entire time.


	3. A Hero's Soul

**New Arrival**

**Chapter One**

**A Heroes Soul**

_"A heroes soul is forged in the crucible of torment."_

_A paraphrasing of a line from an old Earth book in what was called the Dragonlance universe, called "The Soulforge" by Margaret Weiss._

Hex Mason sat in the quarters that had been deemed his.  It seems that Captain Dylan Hunt thought enough of the boy to invite him to join his crew, and the boy thought enough of the crew and ship to take him up on that invitation.  He held in his hands a very, very old book.  It was a paperback edition of a book called "The Soulforge" and he was smiling slightly, a sad smile.  He opened the cover and read the scrawled handwriting he knew was his, read it aloud.  "A heroes soul is forged in the crucible of torment."  A sad laugh escaped his lips as he heaved himself up and walked over to his small chest of belongings, opening it and placing the book inside.  He closed the chest and stood up, staring at it for a few moments longer.  Sighing to himself, he turned, and left his quarters, heading to Hydroponics, the place he had named Sylvanus, to see his annan.

....................................

Trance stood in Hydroponics, the place she'd come to call Sylvanus, after what her new friend Hex Mason called it.  She smiled at the name, conjuring up the image of the young man.  No, she said to herself with a smile, not a young man.  'He's older than he looks, a lot older.'  She felt something, a broadcasted emotion, and smiled, sent back an emotion of warmth in an embrace.  She knew who'd broadcasted the emotion, knew without looking it was Hex.  She knew he was behind her, and knew that he would speak sooner or later.

What she hadn't known was that he was going to slip his arms around her waist.  That surprised her, but she had to admit to herself, she enjoyed it, enjoyed his warmth and affection, and enjoyed how safe and peaceful she felt with his arms around her.  "And how's my favorite golden skinned princess today," he asked softly.  She smiled and leaned into him without realizing she was doing it.

"The best I've been doing in a while, thanks to you," she said back.  He smiled at her and she smiled at him.  She put her hands on top of his.  "And how're you, my Holy Knight?"  She blinked in surprise.  Had she just called him HER Holy Knight?  Did she mean it?  Was it all that bad if she wanted him to be HER Holy Knight?

"Perfect, now that I'm here."

"Yeah, the plants do make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, don't they?"  He smiled and nodded his agreement.

"I wasn't talking about the plants, though."  He coughed nervously.  "Um. . .Trance?  Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," she replied, blushing at his comment.  Wait.  Earlier, had he called her HIS golden skinned princess?  Did she like that?  Yes, she decided, she did like that.

"Well. . .listen, you and I have been getting kinda close, right?  We're friends, I mean."  She giggled, something she hadn't done in a long, long time.

"Yeah, we're friends.  Best friends."  He smiled.

"Well. . .do you, maybe, I mean. . .oh, for all my years, I've never learned how to do this. . . ."  He took a deep breath and just blurted it out.  "Maybe you wanted to be more than friends?"  Silence took them both as they stared into each other's eyes.

"You mean. . .the two of us as boyfriend and girlfriend," she asked dreamily.  Apparently, he took the question differently than she had meant it, because he started to unwrap his arms and tried to move away from her while mumbling.

"Oh, I knew I was rushing things, it was too soon, I knew it-"  She cut him off by pulling his arms back around her waist, standing up on her tiptoes, and kissing him.  He was shocked by the sudden move, but recovered quickly, closed his eyes, and kissed her back.  They stood that way for several minutes, just kissing, until finally he pulled away.  "So, that's a 'yes' then," he asked jokingly.  She smiled up at him and they kissed again.  She smiled and unwrapped his hands from around her waist, still holding them.

"Now, let's get one thing straight from the start, though.  This means that from now on you can't be all dark and broody anymore.  You've got to talk to me about what you're feeling."  He nodded.

"Understood.  And the same goes for you."  She smiled.

"It's a deal."  And they kissed again.

Rommie silently engaged privacy mode in Hydroponics with a smile.

....................................

Dylan was on command when it happened.  "Captain Hunt," Rommie reported, holographic projection appearing in front of him, "I'm picking up a distress call-"

"Geez, another one," groaned Harper.  He had been reporting on the damage done by the Drago-Katsov and how long it would take to fix it, along with what materials would be necessary.

"Yes Harper, another one," Rommie replied, a bit miffed about being interrupted.  "It's coming from a planet nearby.  If we maintain our current course and velocity, we should be there within the hour."

"Rommie, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most urgent, what would you rate this distress call?"  He didn't want to fall victim to another prank distress call, after all.

"Ten being the most urgent?  Twenty-three."

"Oh."

"Indeed."

"Call the crew to command."

....................................

Hex practically ran to command when he heard the call.  Trance had to keep a tight hold of his hand to keep him from losing her.  He attempted to stop, began to skid, his legs flew out from under him, and he ended up on his back, a bruise rapidly forming on the back of his head.  "Mr. Mason," Dylan asked, "are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine for now.  None of us will be if you answer that distress call."

"Oh great, another psychic," Harper joked playfully.  When Hex's face didn't get any lighter, Harper decided maybe it wasn't the time.

"I'm telling you, Captain, that if you answer that distress call something very, VERY bad will happen."

"Do you know that planet?"

"Did.  It's long dead now, nothing but some very BIG asteroids left.  Enough to demolish us pretty badly."

"All the more reason to check it out.  If a ship is stuck in there-"

"There isn't!  That distress call was sent a long time ago, but nobody bothered to come!"

"And you know this how?"  Hex shook his head, turned to leave.

"I'll be getting some weapons if you need me," he said.

"What for," Harper asked.  "If there's nothing but asteroids left, why do ya need weapons?"

"You'll see for yourself soon enough."

"Is there something there that we should know about, Mr. Mason?"  Hex stopped, his eyes closed.

"Andromeda, mind doing me a favor," he asked.

"What is it?"

"Scan that asteroid field for life forms.  Carbon based."

"Scanning."  There were a few minutes of silence.  "There's nothing there."  Hex sighed deeply, snapped his fingers.

"Now scan again."

"I just scanned-"

"Scan again."  Andromeda cocked a holographic eyebrow, but scanned anyway.

"Mr. Mason, what is she going to find?"

"Still no life forms."

"What exactly are we lookin' for here," Harper asked.

"Andromeda, there was a. . .shadow on your scan the last time, right?"

"How did you know," the hologram replied.

"Scan inside that shadow.  Look for any odd energy readings this time."  This time, the hologram took less than three seconds to reply.

"Whoa, what is this?  There's a great deal of energy in that shadow."

"What is it, Mr. Mason?"

"A vortex."  He sighed.  "That's all I can tell you.  But you don't want to go in."

"What's on the other side of the vortex," Trance asked gently, snaking her hand back into his.

"I can't tell you.  You wouldn't believe me anyway."  Trance smiled slightly.  She knew what he meant now.

"Try me, Mr. Mason."  He shrugged.

"It's just a legend, but. . .that vortex is said to go to the plane of existence where the gods of that planet lived."

"You say lived, in the past tense."

"Yes.  Yes, I did.  The legend says they don't live there anymore.  It says that when their world died, they all reacted differently.  Some simply left to find other worlds.  Some went on to CREATE other worlds.  Some wanted to create the world again, in their own image, with their own vision."  His face was twisted in pain.  "Some grieved for all the lost life, both innocent and guilty.  Or rather, the legend says that one grieved."  He shook his head, as if to clear it.  "Silaris, Guardian of the Light, sat down and cried into his hands.  The legend says he grieved, and while he was grieving, Arcanis, his brother, and Emperor of the Dark, left to cause havoc throughout the universe.  When Silaris finally looked up from his hands, Arcanis had already caused much strife.  Silaris blamed himself for it all, blamed the death of the world on his foolishness and naiveté, and blamed all the destruction Arcanis had caused throughout the universe on his negligence.  This ripped his soul apart, and he flew headlong into an army that Arcanis had raised.  He was destroyed, but so were Arcanis and his army.  Unfortunately, Arcanis found a way to be reborn, and Silaris had to give up the final peace he'd had in death to be reborn to fight him."  He laughed, snapping them all out of the trance they'd been in while listening to him speak.  "Just a legend, though."  The squeeze Trance gave his hand told him she didn't believe that last part.  "But. . .I think the legend is off, slightly.  I don't think Silaris found final peace in death.  I think, with his dying breath, he damned himself to torment in whatever his concept of hell was for his mistakes.  I think maybe he wanted to go back to that after he was reborn, for a while.  Now. . .I think now he wants to make amends for it by finally destroying Arcanis, and sending him into the oblivion of nonexistence."  He sighed.  "So, don't go into that asteroid field, Dylan Hunt.  All you'll see is death, decay, and darkness."  He paused.  "If you believe the legend, that is."

"Still haven't answered my question yet," Harper replied.

"Apparently, if the legends and madmen are to be believed, Arcanis came back after he was reborn, and lives on that plane now.  He controls the asteroids and smashes anyone who gets too close.  So, I'd suggest passing it by."  He paused.  "Oh, by the way, Andromeda, check the Earth date on that message, will you?  To leave no doubts, I mean."  There was silence, and then the hologram replied.

"It's very early in Earth's history, BC."  Hex nodded.

"Now, could you put a date on one of the asteroids for me, please?  An Earth date, if you wouldn't mind."  The hologram shook her head.

"Those rocks go back before Earth's recorded history.  If you'd like I can switch to-"

"Thank you," Hex interrupted, and left command, Trance walking with him in silence.

....................................

The pair walked through the halls in silence for a bit, but finally, Trance broke it.  "So. . .was that really a legend?"

"Yeah."

"Hex. . .I doubt you'll tell me, but what kind of connection do you have to Ravonas?"  He laughed.

"You're right, I'm not going to tell you."  Trance nodded in understanding.  It wasn't that he didn't trust her, just that some things had to be kept secret.  She smiled and suggested that when they came to the next drift, the two of them go exploring together.  He let out a contented sigh and smiled, nodding his head in agreement.

....................................

One hour later, Dylan called a meeting.  Every member of the crew was there.  Hex knew what he was going to say, and refused to speak a word, refused to even pay attention to what was being said.  Trance leaned gently against him, her hand in his.  Beka sat in the first chair to the right, while Tyr did his usual brooding thing and was leaning against a wall.  Rommie and Harper sat next to each other, and Dylan stood at the head of the table.  "Ok people, we're going into that vortex.  We've sent a few scouts to check it out, and apparently there is terrain inside, or on the other side."  He looked up at Hex and asked sarcastically, "Mr. Mason, do you have any advice for us?"

"Yes, Captain, I do," Hex replied, surprising them all.  His gaze was intense, his muscles tense, his jaw set.  "If legend is to be believed, and I believe it wholeheartedly, that place has traps galore for any unwary traveler.  Not trapdoors, not ambush spots, and certainly not trapdoors leading to pongee pits.  You will face your greatest desires there, and your most inner demons.  There have been precious few who have managed to make it back from this place alive, and those that did are all irrevocably insane, driven mad by what they saw there.  Do not let yourselves get lost, because if you do, there's a chance that you would never be able to be found.  I suggest we stay together, or if we must split up, stay in groups of at least two.  If you do manage to get lost, and that certainly isn't the hardest thing in this place, immediately stop and sit down.  Try to leave some kind of trail if you end up by yourself.  I also suggest someone stay here to watch the ship.  I have no knowledge of whether there is anyone alive on this plane, but it is better to err on the side of caution in this scenario."  His mouth snapped closed.

"Well, I happen to agree with Mr. Mason."  Hex opened his mouth again.

"And, if I may make another suggestion, I suggest Trance remain here to watch the ship," Hex cut in quickly.  Trance's head snapped around in shock.  "I can't let you go out there knowing full well what could happen.  Besides, do you really want everyone to see what's in your head," he whispered to her.

"I'm going, and that's that," she whispered back sharply.

"Mr. Mason, Trance will be coming with us.  We need her to identify any poisonous plants and to be certain that any injuries are diagnosable and treatable.  Beka will watch the ship."  For once, Beka's temper didn't explode.

"Fine with me.  Truth be told, this place gives me the creeps."

"Alright," Hex said, "one more piece of advice.  Things down there may get kind of hard, but I seem to remember a saying. . .something like 'what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger' or something.  That's a good thing to remember down there."

"Ok then, let's move," Dylan replied, stretching.

....................................

"I think Beka was right about this place," Trance stated, as they stared around at the landscape.  They stood in a gray place, a place that had once been lush with forests and cities and even craggy wastelands.  Hex's eyes were wide, his sword in his right hand and a handgun in his left, standing so close to Trance he was almost on top of her.  He was alert, darting his head left and right, staring ahead at the distance and spinning to check behind them.  Tyr smiled at how jumpy the boy seemed, though he noted that the hair on the back of his neck was standing up.  Harper was sticking close to the man in the know, namely Hex.  Dylan was in the lead, with Rommie by his side.

"Yes," Hex replied.  "She was.  Captain Hunt, I suggest we do whatever it is you want to do here very, very quickly."  Dylan nodded.

"I agree.  Come on, let's go."  As a group they moved off, down a path that looked well used, old, and gray.  As they passed a tree, Hex gently touched the tree, as if saying hello.  Only Trance noticed, but she said nothing.  Soon they came to a fork in the road, the right path leading to a craggy wasteland, the left path leading to a large meadow, with a building in the middle.

"We should go back to the ship now," Hex stated.  "We've seen what you wanted, nobody lives here, the distress call was most definitely sent out years upon years upon years ago.  Now let's go."

"No, I think we should go down the left path.  I want to see what's in that building."

"No, Captain, you don't," said a voice from behind them.  Hex spun and strode purposefully up to the newcomer, a pale skinned, red-haired man in robes, carrying a staff.  "So, you've returned."

"Begone, ghost, and do not bother anyone else, forevermore."  The man laughed.

"I shall go, and fade into nonexistence.  But before I do, I must warn you.  This place is now inhospitable for even you.  You must leave now, and do not return, especially not with friends.  You are putting them in unimaginable danger by bringing them here."

"It wasn't my decision, as you well know."  He waved his hand dismissively.  "Now begone.  You waste my time, and time is of the essence."  He turned his back on the man and headed towards the building, taking Trance's hand as he did so.  "Come on.  Do you want to see the building or not?"  The man behind them laughed, but it grew fainter and fainter, until finally it had faded out.

....................................

Hex stood in front of the door, barring the way, his arms spread out across the width of the door.  "Before going in, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, boy, now move out of the way!"  He shrugged and moved away from the door, taking Trance's hand in a tight grasp.

"After you, Dylan."  The door opened, and they all stepped inside, into darkness.  And then, quite suddenly, there was no longer a floor, and they fell into darkness.  The last thing Hex remembered hearing was Tyr's sarcastic voice.

"I thought you said there weren't any trapdoors, boy."

....................................

"Beka," Andromeda's holographic projection yelped, interrupting her nap.

"What is it," she asked wearily.

"All communications with the others have been cut off."  Beka was instantly awake.

"What about the avatar?"

"ALL communications have been cut off, Beka.  ALL of them."

"Why do I get the feeling that isn't a good thing?"

....................................

Hex awoke on a rocky wasteland.  The Andromeda was nearby, but it was complete garbage, burning away.  He saw what looked like an old Earth motorcycle nearby, and glanced down at himself.  Yes, he looked like he had that day on the ice planet; only his sunglasses lay next to him.  He got up, brushed himself off, and placed the sunglasses on his face.  "Now, to find the others."  He climbed on the motorcycle looking thing and sped off down a cleared road.

....................................

Dylan awoke to find the remains of a city.  There were Commonwealth soldiers, dead, littering the ground everywhere.  One clear road lead away from the place, and what looked like a large, motorized chariot was the only vehicle nearby.  "Dylan," a voice called.  He turned, and saw a man on a motorcycle waving to him.  Somehow, he knew it was Hex.  "Hop in the chariot thing and come with me."

"Where are we?"

"One of Trance's possible futures," he called back, and that's all he said.  He spun the bike around and was off, leaving Dylan to follow in the odd, chariot like vehicle.

....................................

Harper awoke in place swarming with Magog.  Or, rather, Magog statues, made to look real.  He was terrified.  A robotic suit that seemed to plug into his dataport stood nearby.  He was heading over to investigate when he saw the man on the motorcycle, that man that he somehow knew was Hex, and Dylan ride up.  He cocked his head in the direction of the suit, Hex and Dylan both nodded, and he stepped inside.  The suit closed over him and plugged into his dataport, and suddenly, he knew how to use it.  He controlled it.  There were thrusters in his feet, and he tested those out.  "Come on Harper," Dylan called.  "We have to find the others."

....................................

Tyr awoke in an underground cavern.  There was no one there, and the only vehicle in sight was a vehicle that looked like a heavily armed drilling vehicle.  He noticed a door on the ceiling as it opened, and saw Dylan standing there, with the man he somehow knew was Hex and the robot that he somehow knew was Harper, and he got into the drilling vehicle.  Hex pointed to a tunnel that lead up to the surface, and Tyr road out of that.

....................................

"Where's Trance and Rom-Doll," Harper asked.  Hex shook his head.

"Trance I don't know," he called out so everyone could hear him.  "Rommie, being an android, wouldn't be affected by mystical visions.  She isn't here."

Tyr activated the strange communications apparatus in his drilling tank and spoke to the others through that.  "This is a vision?"

"Yes, it is.  It's of a possible future," Hex replied.

"Well, that explains why you look different," Dylan replied.  "Why don't the rest of us look different, though?"

"Dylan," Hex replied, "look at yourself."  Dylan realized he hadn't yet, and glanced down.  What he saw shocked him.  He was wearing a tattered High Guard uniform, and he had a bionic arm.  His hair was longer than it had been before, and he wore a handlebar mustache.  "Harper, you don't change very much over the years, and Tyr, you get a couple new scars.  That's about it."

"How come you change so much," Harper asked.

"Because, if my memory of the events leading up to this future are correct, I am directly involved in bringing it about.  Trance tried to convince me it was an accident at one point, but I put blame on myself and left the Andromeda.  We all met again after the fall of the Commonwealth, and this is what was left of us."

"What about Beka," Dylan asked.

"She has a place in this future, as does Rommie, but since she didn't come into the building with us, she isn't here right now.  Mystical vision and all of that."

"Are we really here," Harper asked.

"Yeah."

"How do you know this," Tyr asked suspiciously.

"If you listen to those madmen that made it out of here long enough, you learn a few things.  Pay attention to the legends and add that to the madmen, and you get a pretty good picture of what's going on."

"Can we get out," Dylan questioned.

"Yeah.  All we have to do is find all the living beings that were with us when we entered the building and go to sleep."

"That's it," Harper asked.

"That's it.  The problem, of course, is finding Trance."

"You knew where the rest of us were," Dylan replied.

"No idea where Trance is.  We were holding hands when we fell, so she should've been near me."

"So," Harper asked, "what are we doing in this future, anyway?"

"Climbing the stairway," Hex replied.  When all he got was a blank silence in return, he laughed.  "All of us have different reasons for why we fight.  Dylan, you want to restore the Commonwealth.  Er-restore it again, I mean.  Tyr. . .you fight because your friends do."

"That doesn't sound like me at all."

"It is, Tyr.  You've grown attached to all of us, well maybe not me yet, but you fight because you don't want to see us get hurt, and you want to protect us.  Tough exterior, caring interior."  He went on before Tyr could cut him off again.  "Harper, you're fighting because you've got nothing else to do anymore, and because you figure that the Magog are allied with the enemy, so you've got personal reasons for fighting.  Beka. . .since she isn't here right now it's harder to see, but I think she's fighting because she's too angry to sit around.  Rommie's still around, but we haven't found her yet, and Trance. . .well, Trance is Trance.  She's fighting because she doesn't want this future to remain the way it is."

"And why are you fighting," Tyr asked.

"To make amends for my mistakes," he replied simply.  "Because I feel this future is my fault entirely, and I figure that I should either fix it or die trying."  He sighed.  "Come on, I've got a pretty good idea where Trance will be."

....................................

Hex was right, and he wished he wasn't.  He saw Trance, surround by enemies, fighting for her life.  He saw her fighting those same strange aliens that had attacked Sarenal.  He saw one of them draw blood, and he completely lost it.  He sped his motorcycle type vehicle up to full speed and drew his enormous sword, the same sword from the ice planet.  He destroyed quite a few of the creatures, and broke through to where Trance was.  "Get on," he roared, and then hauled her onto the motorcycle without waiting for her confirmation.  "Cover our escape," he yelled back, and they sped off, him clearing the way in front and her keeping it clear behind.

....................................

"So, now all we have to do is go to sleep," Hex was saying.

"Oh yeah, right," Harper replied, "I've got enough adrenaline pumpin' through my body right now to strangle a Magog barehanded."  Hex laughed at his joke.

"That's a good one.  I've got a better one, though."  Harper stepped out of his suit and stretched.

"Oh yeah, what?"

"This," Hex replied, and hit Harper with the butt of his handgun.  The young man fell, unconscious.  "Ok, he's asleep.  Trance is sleeping, Tyr is dozing.  That means it's just you and me Dylan, and I'm not going to sleep before you."

"Just answer me one question, Mr. Mason," Dylan replied.

"Shoot."

"Will the future really end up like this?"  Hex laughed and knocked Dylan out the same way he had Harper.  Gazing down at the unconscious Captain, he sighed.

"Not if I can help it, Dylan.  Not if I can help it."  And then he settled down to sleep.

....................................

"Ohhh," Harper groaned, "what hit me?"  He blinked when he saw Hex trying to hide a grin.  "Oh.  Well, guess it was for the best.  But, y'know, could you be a little gentler next time?"  Hex laughed and held out his hand to help Harper up.

"No problem."  Harper glanced around the room they were in.

"So, where are we?"

"No idea."

"You're tellin' me that you know everything else about this place, but all of a sudden you don't know about this building?"  Hex shrugged.

"Nothing understandable, anyway.  The crazy guys I talked to tended to get a little incoherent when they got to this place."

"Did anybody ever come outta this place that WASN'T crazy," he mumbled sarcastically to himself.

"Gods," Hex replied with a smile.  "If the legend is to be believed."  He glanced around.  Dylan, Tyr, and Trance were still asleep.  Rommie had watched them since the fall, which was, apparently, not even a fall.  They had all just collapsed on the ground.  Hex was the first to wake, and he told her to go get Beka and bring the ship back.  She asked him if everything was ok.  He gave her a comforting smile and replied that everything would be fine.

Upon gazing at the wall of mirrors in front of him, however, he realized things were most definitely NOT going to be fine.  A man that looked amazingly like him was standing there, smiling evily.  He wore black, spiked plate armor, and had black, leathery wings sticking out of his back.  That huge sword that Hex had used in the future was in his hands.  "Harper," Hex said, his voice tense and taught, "get everybody up and get them outside.  Get as far away from this building as you can."  Harper, who was currently relaxing on the wall across from the mirrors, opened his eyes to say something, saw the man in the mirrors, and blinked in surprise.

"It's. . .you!  But it isn't!"  The man in the mirrors stepped out of the mirrors, and Harper's face got even paler than it had been before.

"Get them out of here," Hex roared back.

"Hello there, me.  How are you today?"

"You aren't real," Hex replied.  "Get back in those mirrors and don't bother anybody anymore."

"No can do there buddy," the other Hex said, and his voice took on a playful quality.  "I like it here!"

"Harper, I don't see you moving."

"That's because I can't," he replied.

"Oh, how creative," Hex exploded sarcastically.  "We're equals, remember.  You're me, real or not, and you're no weaker or more powerful than I am."  He held up his hand, fingers apart and palm pointed at the armored version of himself, and a ball of white energy formed there.  Harper's jaw dropped open in shock.  "Oh, oh wait," Hex mumbled, and waved his left hand.  Harper collapsed again, unconscious, and the memory of the energy was wiped from his mind.  "Now, get back in those mirrors."

....................................

"Wha. . .where are we," Trance asked groggily, pushing herself up into a sitting position.  She saw Hex leaning against a nearby tree, legs out in front of him, crossed at the ankles.  There were shards of reflective glass in his hair and he had bandages in a few places.  His head was leaning against the tree, eyes closed.  She thought for a moment he was asleep, and then he spoke.

"Outside the building we were in.  Rommie's getting Beka.  Harper was up for a couple'a minutes, but he fell back to sleep.  Dylan and Tyr haven't been up yet."  He had been sweating within the past half hour, judging from the stains on his shirt.  He looked very, very tired, and she slid over to his side.  Only then did she realize how bad he really looked.

His skin was deathly pale, and there were more bandages on his body than she'd originally thought.  He was breathing heavily, and he was barely holding onto consciousness.  There were several tears on his shirt that looked like they came from sword slashes, and there were bloodstains on it as well.  Dylan, Tyr, and Harper were laid rather sloppily on the ground, indicating that he hadn't had much energy with which to carry them and lay them down.  "Are you ok," she asked him gently, sliding her arm into his and grasping his hand.  He smiled.

"I will be.  Just stay with me, ok?"  She smiled back.

"Always," she replied, laying her head down to rest on his shoulder.  Just then, the pair saw Beka and Rommie striding toward them.  They didn't bother trying to get up and explain about the holding hands, as Beka wore a pleased smile on her face and Rommie was clapping slightly.  "Should we wake them up," she asked.

"Nah, I don't think so.  They probably won't be up for a bit."  Trance looked up at him.

"Don't we have to get out of here?  I mean, it's all gray."

"We're safe here Trance.  It isn't gray here, see," he said, running his free hand along the tree behind him.  It was brown, a healthy brown, with a beautiful combination of green and red leaves.    The entire clearing was colorful.

"Why isn't it gray," she asked.  He shrugged.

"Dunno.  My advice?  Don't question it, just sit back and enjoy it."  He removed his hand from hers and slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her even closer to him, if it were possible.  She smiled and leaned her head against his chest, her hands on his chest a few inches below her head.  Her eyes closed and she fell back to sleep.  He smiled up at Beka and Rommie.  "Give us about half an hour, then wake us up."  Beka nodded.

"And then you WILL report to Med Bay with Trance," Rommie whispered.  Hex gave a little laugh and let sleep overtake him.

....................................

"Um. . .Hex?"  Trance was standing over Hex, trying to get a scan of his wounds.

"Yes Trance," he asked playfully.

"Why can't I get a scan on you?"  He smiled and gave her the same answer he knew she'd given another man once, as she'd told him about that time.

"You're machine's broken."  She chuckled slightly at that.

"Seriously though, why can't I get a scan on you?"  He swung his legs off the bed and turned his head to look at her.

"Let's just leave it at the fact that you can't right now."  She cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't scan well, but the scanner does pick up life signs.  With you, I can't even get that."  She paused, deciding how to phrase her next question.  "Are you alive?"  In answer, Hex removed one of the bandages from his body, and a small trickle of blood began to drip down.  That quickly turned into a bigger trickle, which in turn began to gush.  He put the bandage back on his chest.

"You tell me."  He paused.  "Andromeda, engage privacy mode."

"Engaged," rang the ship's voice.

"I am alive," he said, "but I'm going to show you something, if you promise not to tell anyone, and that includes this crew.  Or anyone else, for that matter.  ANYONE."

"Of course."  He nodded in satisfaction and removed the same bandage that he had removed previously.

"Now, allow me to show you."

....................................

"Mr. Harper, maybe you'd like to tell the rest of us what happened in that building before we all awoke," Dylan was saying, standing on command talking to Harper.

"Well, boss, there's really not much to tell until the end.  It was weird.  There was this big wall o' mirrors, and Hex was in it.  But he was all armored and stuff, looked like a Dark Knight out of some fantasy story.  Then the weirdest thing happened.  He stepped out of the mirror, and Hex raised his hand up and commanded him to go back into the mirrors. . . ."

"Is that all?"

". . .Yeah.  Yeah, I think so."

....................................

Hex fell asleep that night and instantly went to the realm of rectangular glass.  He sighed.  "Now what do you want to show me," he asked the thin air, looking down at the plane of glass he was on.

Unlike all the other times he'd been here, the image was clear, not semi-transparent.  It snapped into sharp focus, crystal clear.  He and Trance danced at a medieval style ball.  He stood atop a mountain of blood and bones, a volcano erupting in the distance.  He stood in a High Guard uniform, at the helm of the Andromeda, and images of a thousand other ships flashed by.  And the one image that flashed by more than once, that was constantly flashing in his face, was an image of Trance being struck with an unknown weapon, by an unknown assailant, and falling.  Each image furthered the whole of the action, as one showed her being struck, and the next time it showed her beginning her fall, and so forth and so on.  It continued on as she hit the ground and bounced slightly.  He entered the picture, dropping to his knees and scooping her up into his arms.  He held her head and she whispered her last breath, and then she died.  He pulled her head to his chest and began rocking back and forth, crying.  And then he looked up, to what had struck her dead.  The next image, and the last, a picture of him from behind, standing in front of Trance's dead body, arms outstretched, palms up, fingers curling, back arched.  He looked out into the stars, into the endless universe.

And then he awoke, and a rumbling sound in the distance reminded him a great deal of a smith's hammer, striking a blow to what would soon be a sword.

Notes:  Yeah, yeah, I know.  Long again, but there's a lot to cover in this story, especially in the beginning chapters.  I know a lot of it might not make the most sense right now, but they will eventually, don't worry.  And yes, I do have plans for at least one sequel, so there will be a few unanswered questions left throughout this story, which one of the sequels (my current plan is for three, maybe four, stories in the series) will answer.  Please give me reviews.  Pardon the pun, but I need to know how to make this unworked heap of metal into a better sword.


	4. The King's Court

**New Arrival**

**Chapter Two**

**The King's Court**

_"Est Sularus oth Mithas."_

_"My honor is my life."_

_A quote from an old Earth book, "Dragons of Summer Flame" set in the Dragonlance universe.  The Oath of all Solamnic Knights.  Solamnic:  "Est Sularus oth Mithas."  Translates to:  "My honor is my life."_

"Andromeda, please tell the crew to report to command.  We have a briefing we need to give," Dylan Hunt said, speaking to the holographic projection of his ship.

"Is there an occasion I should announce," she asked, half playfully, half serious.

"We're going to a ball," he replied, a slight smile on his face.

....................................

"Did I hear that right," Beka asked as she munched on her breakfast.  Hex looked both pleased and alarmed, which looked very odd, considering there was a piece of bacon hanging from his mouth.  Trance was laughing at him and pointed out the bacon.  He just bit it off and placed the unfinished piece back down on his plate, swallowing what had already been in his mouth.  When Trance noticed the look on his face, she groaned slightly.

"Oh, come on.  There can't be a legend about this too."  He shook his head.

"No, there's not," he replied.  He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.  He slid his tray over to Trance as he picked up the last of the bacon he'd been munching on and walked out of the Mess Hall, hands clasped behind his back, eyes unfocused.  Trance thought she caught the words, "Ghost of a future dream," but shrugged it off, picking up her fork and beginning to eat some of Hex's unfinished waffles.

....................................

'Well, Hexy old boy, things are certainly beginning to spin out of your control' Hex thought to himself as he walked aimlessly down one of Andromeda's many corridors.  'Normally you've strived, and succeeded, to avoid what those magical little glass things have shown you.  And, normally, they've shown you stuff in advance.  This?  How come this didn't come until less then twenty-four hours before it happened?  And is it connected to her death somehow?  If it is, of course, you need to stop it, but if it isn't, then hey, why not enjoy yourself?  It's been ages since you've been to one of these, you know.  And hey, whose to say you won't be able to stop it later, even if this little ball thing is connected to Trance's death?  I mean, you deserve some peace, don't you?  Everybody does, y'know.  It's a right, or something.  Anyway, back to the subject at hand here, ok?  Don't lose focus.  Seems like with all these new friends you've begun to speak openly, and that's ok, they're your friends.  But this golden skinned beauty?  Man, you lose all your wits when you're around her.  What was up with showing her that, anyway?  I mean, yeah, it was pretty cool, and the look on her face was classic, but let's face it:  That was supposed to be one of our closely guarded little secrets.  What happened to that?  Ok, losing focus again.  That golden girl isn't following us, is she?  That would explain the current loss of wits and focus.  Ok, anyway, rambling again.  Remember, you want to prevent her death.  So, yeah, if this ball thingy is connected to her death, it has to go.  Oh, the rest of them can go down there, they're inconsequential anyway.  I mean, we care about 'em, but this won't bring about their deaths.  I think.  Well, maybe you should go down there to make sure they stay safe.  But, yeah, don't let Trance go down there.'  He sighed.  He always talked to himself in his head like this, tried to stay on both sides at the same time.  Normally, it failed miserably.  'She's the first person that's wanted to get close to you in a while now, you know that, right?  Don't screw it up, Hexy, don't screw it up.  This may be your last chance.'

"Penny for your thoughts," a voice said from behind him.  He chuckled and thought about how broken up and unfocused that penny would have to be as he nodded in greeting to Rommie.

"We'd have to break it up and scatter it across the universe," he replied jokingly.

"Everything ok," she asked, falling into step with him.

"Yeah.  Better than ok, really.  But, see. . .I've never actually had a girlfriend before, and, well. . .I think maybe I'm being a little overprotective."

"How so?"

"I guess. . .I'm just worried all the time something will happen to Trance, that's all."  Rommie chuckled.

"Considering your feelings for each other, that isn't abnormal at all."

"Yeah, but. . .I dunno.  I don't want her going on missions anymore.  I want her to stay where it's safe, or relatively so, anyway.  And I know that isn't fair of me, and I know I'm being overprotective, but I can't help it, y'know?"  Rommie smiled and nodded.

"And the fact that you realize it means you can do something about it.  You can catch yourself before you say something overprotective, think it over, and if it isn't overprotective, you can say it.  If it is, you won't say it."

"One could hope, but I tend to leap before I think."

"So?  It's part of your charm," she replied with a smile.  "Look, I'm heading to command.  If you ever need to focus your thoughts and get them out in the open, you know where to find me."

"Thanks Rommie.  I appreciate that," he told her honestly.  "Same for you," he added as she turned.  She winked at him and continued walking.  "Now," he mumbled, "how am I going to tell whether or not this thing is connected to Trance's death?"  And his mental reply?  'I suppose, Hexy, you won't.'

That thought didn't comfort him at all.

....................................

"So, what you're telling us is that we can't bring forcelance's or any other kind of EFFECTIVE weapon down there at all," Hex asked in shock, staring at Dylan as he gave his speech on conduct while at what was to be a masquerade ball.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Mr. Mason."

"I'm bringing my sword, and I'll provide the rest of you with some weapons.  Tyr, you look like a halberd man.  It's big and powerful.  Fitting.  Harper, you definitely get the throwing knives.  Quick and sharp.  Beka, you get the heavy crossbow."  He smiled.  "It's explosive, just like you."  He promptly had to duck a playful right hook.  "Ok, I was just joking, don't take it seriously.  Dylan, you would probably have a nice broadsword, since great leaders are known for 'em.  Rommie, I've got a pair of sai for you.  Can be deadly or used to stun, so the taking of life isn't necessary."  He turned to look at Trance, who stood behind him.  "And I've got something special in mind for you."

"I'm going," she said flatly.

"I know.  I mean as a weapon.  Bladed fans, designed to look like Japanese paper fans until they're unfolded.  Then the deadly blades come into view, and people suddenly realize that they aren't for taking away the heat."  He smiled.  "Elegant, graceful, dignified, beautiful, and mysterious.  They suit you."  She flushed slightly, but smiled nonetheless.

"Mr. Mason, what makes you think we'll be bringing ANY weapons to the masquerade ball?"

"Because we're not THAT trusting," he replied simply.  Dylan laughed slightly.

"You will get weapons that suit your costumes," he told them.  Hex snapped his fingers.

"Well, I'll be getting a rapier.  Oh well, still just as effective.  Nice style to a blade like that, too," Hex mumbled.  Dylan smiled at the eccentric young man and gestured to the exit.

"Well, get going.  Make sure you're in costume by-"

"Um, normal time, please?  Military time confuses me," Hex cut in softly.  Dylan gave him a friendly nod.

"Nine o'clock tonight."  Hex nodded and headed back to his quarters, and Trance kissed him swiftly before heading to hers.  Dylan smiled after them.

"Who do you think they're going as," he asked.

"Isn't it obvious," Tyr replied, a slight smile on his face.  "Will you two play along?"

"Yeah," Harper replied.  "My vote goes to yes."

"Well then, it's decided," Dylan replied.  "Beka, Rommie, Tyr, are you sure you three don't want to come?"  They all simply nodded.  "Ok.  Well, let's get dressed up."

....................................

Hex checked himself over in the mirror.  He was dressed exactly like he had been once before, in a performance of an old Earth play.  A fox mask adorned his face, or half of it.  The rest of it was old English attire, as was required for his costume.  He looked himself over once more.  'Well, I make a fair Romeo, don't I?'  He gave a contented sigh and left his quarters, to find Dylan and Harper standing in the hall outside, all dressed in costumes.  Harper was portraying the character Hex recognized as Mercutio, Dylan was Benvolio.  Hex gave a sarcastic little laugh.  "Oh, HA HA.  Very funny."  Harper shrugged, Dylan laughed.  "Oh, I get it.  Ok, I'll bite.  Here we go:

(Note:  This next part will be written as I read it out of a Shakespeare book, replacing the character abbreviations with Hex, Dyl, and Har.  All dialogue is property of William Shakespeare and whoever has the ownership now.) 

Hex:  What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?  Or shall we on without apology?"

Dyl:  "The date is out of such prolixity:  We'll have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf, Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath, Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper; Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke after the prompter, for our entrance:  But, let them measure us by what they will, we'll measure them a measure, and be gone."

Hex:  "Give me a torch,-I am not for this ambling; Being but heavy, I will bear the light.

Har:  "Nah, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.

Hex:  "Not I, believe me:  you have dancing shoes, with nimble soles:  I have a soul of lead.  So stakes me to the ground I cannot move."

Har:  "You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings, and soar with them above a common bound."

Hex shook his head.  "Ok, we're getting pretty close to where the others are going to be.  I don't want to seem like a total freak, so let's stop."  Dylan gave a little laugh.  "What," Hex began, and then chuckled and added sarcastically, "dear cousin, haven't you told me?"

"Tyr, Beka, and Rommie aren't coming.  It'll just be you, Harper, Trance, and me.  And, well. . .Trance is already down on the planet."  Hex's eyes went wide and his hand went instantly to the hilt of the rapier than hung at his side.  "Just to prepare for the balcony scene, of course."  Dylan looked at Hex's eyes.  "What's wrong?"

"I don't like surprises," Hex replied softly.

"But this one's a GOOD surprise," Harper returned.  Hex sighed.

"Can't control everything," he mumbled to himself.  "I just hope this time it doesn't come back to bite me on my shiny silver ass."

"What was that," Dylan asked.

"Nothin', don't worry about it," Hex mumbled.

....................................

Hex could hear the music as he stepped inside.  'Either these people really do live in this time period, or they have a very, VERY unhealthy obsession' he thought to himself.  Bards played on stage, and people in costume danced around the dance floor.  A king sat upon a throne high up.  Hex chuckled at apparently nothing and outright laughed at the uncomfortable looks on Dylan's and Harper's faces.  He decided he would get them back for making fun of him and began to glide across the dance floor.

Dylan and Harper stood in shocked awe.  Hex moved across that dance floor like he owned it.  Women asked him to dance left and right, and he simply replied with a no, and they actually left it at that.  He even had the KING nodding in approval!

Hex smiled as he noticed Harper's jaw drop, but then the worried look flew back across his face.  Where was Trance?  He didn't want her to be alone down here, not with the chance that this could be connected to her death.  And then he saw her, standing on a balcony, smiling down at him.  'Oh man, Dylan and Harper were serious about the balcony scene!'  And then another sight grabbed his attention.  A man staring up at Trance, twirling a dagger in his fingers.  He wore a heavy cloak, hood pulled low over his face, and the little that could be seen of his pale face was scarred beyond belief.  Hex knew immediately the man was an assassin.  He'd seen the like before, and more than likely, this one was a NightOwl, or so the more prominent assassin group called itself.  He'd dealt with them before, and he knew that it would be a fairly easy matter to get rid of this man.  He strode over like an old friend and stood in whispering distance.  "Sheee's a looksher, ain't shhhheee," he slurred, acting drunk.  The man gave a slight chuckle.

"That's it, you've caught me.  I'm lovestruck, and I wish to find a way up to that balcony.  Do you know of a way, my good man?"

"That I do, sonny, that I do.  Hey, you got an apple on yer head, y'know?"  The assassin's eyes widened.  The comment was a reference to an old story, about a father who shot an apple off of his son's head.  It was NightOwl code for "you've been made."  "I'm thinkin' maybe yoou realllly schouldn't be lookin' like that, y'know?  Or maybe-maybe find yerself a new girl."

"Sorry, I can't do that."  He paused.  "I'm VERY lovestruck."  Hex shrugged.

"Alllright, okey-dokey, I'll shhhow you the waaayy up there."  The assassin smiled gratefully.

"I'll give you a quarter of my profit for your help."  That was one thing about the NightOwls.  They had a sense of honor, and a semi-conscience.  If someone helped them, they repaid the favor.  He laughed and gestured with his left hand to a shadowed corridor, drawing the assassin's eyes away from his right hand on his sword hilt.

....................................

"Dylan," Trance called down from the balcony, "where's Hex?"

"He was headed right for you a minute ago," he replied.

"I know, I thought I saw him."

"Well, he was talking to a guy that was staring up at you and then they went off in the opposite direction of where he wanted to be going."

"What did the guy look like?"  Dylan shrugged.

"Heavy cloak, hood.  Looked like he was trying to stay in the shadows."  Trance shook her head.

"That doesn't make any sense.  He shouldn't be worried about that."  She cocked her head for a moment.

"Well, I can't wait forever.  Which way did he go?"  Dylan pointed to the shadowed corridor on the right and Trance nodded her thanks, turned, and headed towards the other entrance to that corridor.

....................................

"Now," Trance heard Hex's voice from around the corner, coming out in a growl, "let's talk about the assignment, NightOwl."  She came around the corner, smiling and opening her arms to hug Hex, but she stopped short.  Hex was crouching, holding a pale, scarred man against the wall, and crushing his throat.  A dagger was pinning the man's hand to the ground.

"Hex!  What are you doing?"

"Taking out the trash," Hex growled.  "He's an assassin.  Came here to kill you.  Assigned task, not pleasure.  He isn't telling me what the assignment is and who gave it to him, so I'm killing him very slowly."

"Hex, easy.  Assassin or not, he doesn't deserve to die."

"He's going to kill you Trance.  This won't scare him off, just make him more cautious, and I might not catch him next time."  He lowered his face, putting his face scant inches from the other man's.  "Now, tell me who sent you."  He paused, and Trance couldn't see what happened, but the man began to scream.  "Or you won't like what I have to do."

"The guy, he was calling himself Arcanis!  Arcanis, ok?!  Just please don't kill me, please!"  Hex laughed.

"Don't worry, I won't.  You're a waste of my time."  He smiled evily and got up, brushing himself off.  "I've got bigger game than you, little man."  He waved his hand casually.  "Now begone, and you will forget everything except this:  Arcanis is not the employer you want to work for.  Any and all prior assignments he has given you, and any and all future opportunities or assignments he offers, are to be turned down.  Do not try to kill him, you will not survive the conflict."  Another wave of his hand sent the man away.  Hex turned to Trance, a warm smile on his face, his arm held out for her to take.  "Now, my dear, shall we go?"

....................................

"Shall we go," Trance asked, shocked.  "What did you do to that guy?  How come he just left like that?  What WERE you going to do to that guy if he didn't tell you what you wanted to know?  Why did he say Arcanis hired him if Arcanis is dead, if he was even alive to begin with?"

"Can't tell you that, I told him to, you'd rather not know, and Arcanis was reborn in the legend, remember."  He smiled.  "Does that take care of all your questions?"  Trance shook her head.

"Not by a long shot."

"Mind not asking them just yet?  I'm sure the answers will come in time, and you already know more than the others."  He smiled.  "More than you're willing to admit to me, I think.  But I'm ok with that, I trust you.  Please, trust me the same way.  I know you'll tell me your secrets in time, or at least a few of them.  Trust me to do the same with you."

"Could you do the weird command thing you did to that other guy with me?"  Hex looked at her amusedly for a moment.

"No, not with you.  The others yes, but you, no, if you catch my drift."  Trance began to open her mouth, but he pressed his right index finger over her lips and silenced her.  "Besides, even if I could, I wouldn't.  Not with you."  Trance smiled.  It was really hard for her to stay angry with Hex if he was giving her compliments.  And, like it or not, he HAD just been trying to protect her.  Trance still had one more question that she wanted an answer to, and she began to open her mouth.  Hex shook his head immediately, as if he'd known what she was going to ask.  Had he?

"Trance, not right now, ok?  Let's just enjoy this party, and then we can talk about whatever you want.  I may not be able to tell you about some things, but anything I can, I will."

....................................

The rest of the party seemed as if it would go off without a hitch.  But, of course, life on the Andromeda normally has a way of drawing excitement to its crewmembers.  In this case, it was having a psychic read one's mind.  The King smiled and gestured toward a curtain, at which point a woman dressed in beads and purple silk glided out of the curtain.  She took a seat next to the King and he gestured around the room.  "We will have our honored guests, the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant, step up first."  Hex shook his head.

"Captain Hunt, I'm leaving," he whispered.

"No, Mr. Mason, you're not.  That would seem like an insult to the King's hospitality, and if there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's never, EVER insult the hospitality of someone in power."  Hex sighed.

"Alright, Captain Hunt.  Alright."  He shook his head, and Trance noticed sad resignation in his eyes.  "Mind if I go first," he asked Dylan.  "Might as well get it over with."  Dylan nodded.

"Sure, go ahead."  And so Hex got at the front of the line and headed up to see the woman.

"You must kneel and allow me to put my hands on your head," she told him.  He did as he was told, and he could very suddenly feel her hands on his head.  She closed her eyes for a few moments, and then they shot open again in shock.  "You are. . .," she started, trailing off as she studied the boy before her.  Sad resignation and a bit of pain could be seen swimming around in his eyes, and from the way he was clutching the hand of the golden skinned woman behind him like he would never do so again, it seemed likely that he wouldn't.  She looked at him again and smiled, her eyes fluttering back to their normal position.  "You are a very brave man," she said, and a smile of thanks spread across his face, relief sweeping into his eyes, washing the pain and sad resignation away.  "Never forget that bravery, and remember:  Not everything is your fault."  He winced and stood.

"Thank you, madam.  You are extremely talented."  He leaned over, pretending to give her the customary kiss on both cheeks, and whispered, "And I think you'll have a part to play yet.  I will be back when that time comes."  She smiled and nodded, and he moved away.  Trance slipped away with him, and a slight amused smile played across his face when he realized this.  It was quickly dashed away, however, when he saw another man, skinny and sticklike, smiling sarcastically at him.  Ravonas Kincaid was leaning against a wall nearby, in a Tybalt costume.  "Trance, would you mind gathering Dylan and the others and leaving?  Quickly?"  Trance looked at him questioningly.

"What is it?"  In response, Hex pointed to where Ravonas stood.  Trance's eyes widened.  "You are NOT fighting him alone."

"Go, just GO!"  She looked back at Ravonas for a second, and then darted off to get the others.

"Pitiful man," Ravonas shouted across the room.  All conversation stopped at his booming voice.  "You think you and your friends will be able to stop me?"

"I think you will be stopped, Ravonas.  Whether by me or by another, it matters not.  You WILL be stopped."  He drew his rapier.  "I just have the means to an end."  Ravonas laughed and drew his rapier.

"So we'll be fighting with these this time?  I must say, they are much more maneuverable.  And better for dramatic fights."

"You always did have a flair for the dramatics," he replied, and began charging at him.

"We both did," was Ravonas's amused reply, before charging himself.  Music seemed to start from nowhere as the two ran at each other.  Blades clashed, and the two darted apart, and then blades clashed once again.  The King was screaming for order, but Trance shook her head, told him it was about honor, and he sat down, a bit sullenly, to await the outcome.

Hex blocked a thrust from Ravonas and returned sharply with one of his own, only to be blocked and dodged swiftly.  A flash of blade from his left and he barely dodged a downward slash.  He took the opportunity provided by the slower maneuver to slide to Ravonas's right and attempt a thrust, but the man spun and parried, thrusting with his own sword.  Hex leapt back to keep the sword from sliding into his chest and ducked as a throwing knife erupted from Ravonas's left sleeve.  "Playing dirty," he asked playfully.

"Always have," Ravonas replied.  "Always was your weakness."  Hex smiled.

"Not anymore."  A knife shot out from his sleeve as well, catching Ravonas in the side.  The man couldn't afford the time it would take to yank it out, so he just began slashing and thrusting wildly.

Hex knew that such wild maneuvers would get innocents killed, and he knew he had to stop the man quickly.  He knew what to do.  He jumped back, saluting Ravonas with his sword while reaching for the top of his left boot.  "To your predictability, my. . .old friend," he replied sarcastically.

"What are you talking about," Ravonas shouted back.  Suddenly he realized, but too late, as he saw Hex standing there, forcelance pointed at his chest, an amused smile on his face.  Ravonas laughed and spun, his black cloak flying around him, and suddenly, he was gone, the cloak wafting to the ground, empty.  Silence descended on the room as all watched Hex grow very, very angry.  Finally, Hex broke the silence with an explosive curse.

"DAMMIT," he roared, spinning and throwing the rapier at the wall.  It became a blur as it flew, and embedded itself deeply into the wall.  He turned, waved a hand caustically, and everyone except Trance and the psychic now remembered that Ravonas had plunged his own sword into the wall, not Hex.  With that done, Hex strode out of the room, Trance looking around bemusedly and following behind.

....................................

Trance found Hex in the Mess Hall, an empty bottle of whiskey next to him, another half full bottle in front of him, and a shot glass in his hand.  He downed the shot glass, and poured another from the half full bottle.  She walked over softly and sat down across from him.  "Hex?  Are you ok?"  There was a grunt and brief headshake in response, and down went the shot.  He reached out for the bottle but Trance grabbed it first.

"You'll get more when you talk to me."

"What do you want to know," he asked.  He sounded haggard and a bit like a wild animal, his voice deep and scratchy.

"Why do you hate Ravonas?"

"He destroyed everything I loved," Hex replied.  "Now pour me a damn shot already.  If I'm going to brood, I'm going to do it drunk."  She nodded and poured the whiskey into the shot glass.  Hex downed it.  "Since I want more alcohol, I suppose I'll have to answer another question."

"Why does he hate you?"  Hex laughed, and it sounded truly cruel with the current tone of his voice.

"That's a long story.  Let's leave it at 'he just does.'"  He held the shot glass out.

"You didn't answer the question."

"I told you there would be things I couldn't tell you."

"Fine, but you don't get alcohol for those answers."  He let out a slight growl and she laughed.  "You know, that isn't working with me."

"Fine.  Just ask the damn question."

"You don't have to be mean."

"Sorry."

"Are you human?"

"Do I look it?"

"Please don't be sarcastic."

"Fine.  No."  He extended the glass.  She poured, and he gulped.

"What are you?"  Hex shook his head and grunted.  "Alright, fine.  Do you have special powers?"  Another laugh escaped his lips.

"You've seen 'em," he replied.

"So that's a yes?"

"Yes," he replied, exasperated, as he extended the shot glass.  With a sigh, Trance poured it again.

"Y'know, judging by what you look like, you should've started having seizures about half an hour before I found you."

"Yeah, well you can't judge by what I look like now."

"I can't judge by what you look like NOW?  How about LATER?"

"Yes.  Now give me some more alcohol."  Trance poured another shot glass full and then, with a slight smile, stated, "I think you've had enough."  A slight smile crossed Hex's face.

"Do we really need to go through this?"

"We can go through whatever you want," she replied seriously, "but I'm still not giving you more."

"Oh, that's great.  What, you want some for yourself?"

"Nope."  A devious smile played across Hex's face.

"Say, how 'bout a little contest?"

"Not a chance.  I wouldn't want you to pass out, then I'd have to carry you back to your quarters."

"You'd be surprised how well I can drink," he replied, kicking something under the table.  She looked, and to her shock, three empty bottles were under there.  "I figured you'd find me, and I'm really not up for a lecture on drinking responsibly, so I hid 'em under here."  He grinned.  "Still think you can out drink me?"

"Yes."  He sighed.

"Alright, if you're too scared of losing. . . ."

"I didn't say I was scared."

"Didn't say you did.  It's what you DIDN'T say that matters."

"I'm NOT scared of losing."  He gestured to the bottle.

"Prove it."

....................................

Despite how he felt, Hex couldn't help but smile as he walked down the corridor, Trance over his shoulder, passed out from too much alcohol.  "Geez, maybe I shouldn't have done that.  She's going to have one HELL of a hangover."  He stopped in front of the door to one of the many Machine Shops and opened the door.  "Hey, Harper, you in here," he called out as he stepped inside.

"Right here. . .holy HELL, what happened ta HER?"

"She thought she could out drink me," he replied, humor in his voice.

"Seriously, what happened?"

"I'm serious."

"Listen buddy, FIRST OF ALL, you're underage, you shouldn't be drinking.  SECOND OF ALL, I've tried to out drink Trance on several occasions, and do you know what the end result was?"

"A similar scene being repeated, only Trance was carrying YOU?"

"Bingo.  So if you think for one second-"

"Harper, take a deep breath."

"What?"

"Take a deep breath.  You'll smell the alcohol."  Harper shrugged and did so, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Y-you couldn't have. . .!"

"Yeah, well, I did.  So, listen, I just wanted to know how to get to her quarters-"  He was cut off by Harper promptly passing out.  "Ah, shit.  Well, you sleep in here a lot anyway, nobody'll find that odd.  Real problem is Trance.  You, Harper, you I could trust not to say anything in front of anybody else.  Tyr, well, Tyr will be Tyr, Rommie, Dylan, and Beka would all give me lectures about underage drinking."  He sighed.  "Guess I'll just have to take her to mine."  He shrugged.  "Oh, and in case Harper DIDN'T have privacy mode engaged while doing his little spiel into the camera," Hex replied, gesturing to the camera that lay strewn on the floor, "and yes, Rommie, I AM talking to you. . ._Est Sularus oth Mithas_.  Cross reference that if you think I'll. . .take advantage of the opportunity."

....................................

Rommie's holographic projection watched Hex leave the machine shop and then began cross refrencing the phrase.  "Hmm. . .my honor is my life."  She smiled.  "Well, I think I'll just engage privacy mode in his quarters."


	5. New Life

**New Arrival**

**Chapter Three**

**New Life**

_"How can you see into my eyes_

_Like open doors?"_

_"My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold_

_Until you find it there in me. . .in me."_

_A quote from the song "Bring Me To Life" by the band Evanescense._

Trance awoke with a pounding headache and a blank spot in her memory of the previous night.  She was in bed, and she assumed she was in her quarters.  Rolling over onto her side, she rubbed at her eyes and groaned.  "Ugh. . .what happened?"

"You drank waaaaay too much alcohol," Hex's voice sounded from nearby.  "You really should have given up."  She jumped, startled.

"Why are you in my quarters?"

"I'm not.  You're in mine."  He saw the alarmed look on her face and shook his head, smiling.  "Don't worry, you're in no danger of a reputation.  No one even knows.  Well, Harper knows I outdrank you, but he's passed out in Machine Shop 18, so he doesn't know about you being in my quarters."  He walked over to the bed, sat down on the edge, taking her hand in his.  "Thanks."

"For what," she asked, confused.

"For making me feel better last night.  I really was down in the dumps, but you took care of that.  Now it's my turn to take care of you."  She smiled despite her pounding headache.

"You're welcome.  And that's alright, you don't have to take care of me."

"I do," he replied affectionately.  "Because I care about you, and because you helped me when I needed it."  He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and smiled.  "Now, what kind of medicine do you need from Med Bay?"

"Just some coffee, thanks," she replied, sitting up and realizing she still had her clothes on.  "I'm feeling better already."  He nodded and bolted out the door to get the coffee.  She smiled in appreciation and pondered over how her feelings with Hex had occurred.  She had come back thinking about Harper in a slightly romantic way, and she didn't think anybody else would be right for her.  At first, she wasn't sure about what could have happened to change that, but now she thought she had a handle on it.  Something she'd done to make sure things stayed right, they must have allowed for Hex's arrival.  That explained why she'd never met him before.

However, that still didn't explain why she couldn't see into the future with him.  She couldn't guess where he was concerned.  It was as if he was beyond probabilities.  She still couldn't wrap her head around that one.  How was it possible?  Well, he said he wasn't human, but that didn't really mean anything.  There weren't many species that were beyond probabilities.  There was only one explanation, but she knew that he wasn't chaos incarnate, so that was out.  She supposed he was just "highly unpredictable" and that she would leave it at that for right now.

"Deep in thought," asked a voice from the door.  She was startled to see Tyr standing there.

"Tyr, hey. . .what do you need?"

"Just wondering why you're in the quarters of our newest Dylanite."

"First of all," barked another voice, Hex's, from behind the big Nietzschean, "I am most certainly NOT a Dylanite.  Second of all, I'M wondering what YOU are doing in my quarters, Tyr."  Tyr turned and laughed.

"That, child, is no business of yours."  Hex came to stand chest to chest with Tyr.

"First of all, Tyr Anasazi, I am NO child.  And second of all, if you insist on invading my privacy, I WILL make sure you regret it."

"And how will you do that. . .child?"

"I can't believe you're really this stupid.  Well, I suppose you came here looking for a fight, and I suppose I'm in the mood to give it to you."

....................................

"Are you sure you want to do this, child?"  Tyr and Hex both stood, in a fairly large dead end alleyway near the Castle.

"You seem to be insistent upon it, Tyr.  The only condition I have is that if I win, you tell NO ONE that Trance was in my quarters.  Agreed?"

"And if you lose?"

"You get to name your price."

"Quite a condition.  You seem horribly confident of your success in this fight."

"It doesn't have anything to do with confidence.  I already know I can win, that's all."

"Like I said, quite confident."

"Quite knowledgeable about my own abilities, that's what it is.  Now, I'm hungry, so can we please get on with this?  Rommie only serves breakfast for another hour."

"You truly think this fight will be that easy?"

"In all honesty, Tyr?  I would be surprised if this fight lasted more than ten minutes."  Tyr laughed and charged at the boy, arm cocked back, intending to throw one very large punch.  In a flash, Hex was no longer there.  "See," his voice called from behind, "that's your problem Tyr."  Tyr spun and was met with a flying kick to the face.  "You always start out with brute strength," another flash, and he was behind Tyr again, landing a kick to the back of the knee.  "Expecting it to knock the opponent out."  Another flash, and suddenly Hex was in front of him.  "It is only after you've confused the enemy," a strong fist to the stomach, "that you can let lose with your brute force."  A strong uppercut to the jaw knocked Tyr out.  "And y'know, I almost wish I could let you remember this, just to teach you some humility.  But I can't."  He sighed, waving his hand tiredly.  "So, Tyr.  You wanted to go see if there were any interesting weapons.  You came down here, ended up in a fight, which YOU, of course, won."  He realized that there would be bruises and added, "Though it was a hard fought victory."  With that he threw on his shirt and strode out of the alleyway, leaving Tyr to wake up in time.

....................................

Hex strode into the Mess Hall and got some breakfast.  It wasn't much really, and he finished it rather quickly.

However, it wasn't the activity in the Mess Hall that had Dylan fascinated.  It was the information Rommie had just shown him that drew his interest.  "So, what exactly does all this amount to," he asked, trying to hide the rather puzzled tone from his voice.

"Well, the information by itself means next to nothing, really.  A LOT of people know how to erase their records, and considering he is either being chased by or chasing what seems to be an at least somewhat dangerous man, it would be in his best interest to erase his records."  She sighed, not at all eager to reveal this next bit of information.  "Now, the video files, they mean something."

"Video files," Dylan asked, interested.  Rommie nodded but stayed silent.  "Of what?"

"Of WHO," she corrected him, and played the first video file.  It was no more than a minute long, and the second was barely longer.  Both, however, revealed a great deal of information.

"Rommie, find Hex.  Tell him to report to my quarters IMMEDIATELY."

....................................

"So, Captain," Hex began, picking up on the less-than-casual tone in the room and deciding to use formal titles, "what's this about?"  Dylan didn't respond, merely gesturing to where Rommie had displayed the video files.  The screen was blank at first, but in a moment the two video files played through.  Hex's face grew darker and darker as he watched.

The first video showed someone that was undoubtedly him, dressed as what looked like a late 20th century biker, strolling through a drift, casually firing a Gauss Rifle around at menacing looking aliens.

The second showed him again, though this time he was dressed in plate armor, like a Knight of Earth's middle ages.  Things were exploding all around him, and he suddenly spun and mangled the recording device that was behind him.

"Care to explain either of those?  Preferably the one that showed you as a murderer first."

"I can only say two things in my defense," he replied.  "One:  That was a very, VERY dark period in my life.  Two:  Those aliens would make the Magog look like pussycats."

"And that makes it ok?"  Hex simply shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not.  Depends on what world you're on."

"On that one."

". . .That one didn't get a vote," he replied after a moment.

"And why not?"

"Because they made the Magog look like pussycats."  He sighed.  "I'm talking serious evil here Dylan, SERIOUS evil.  The Magog are wild and brutal.  These things were capable of that, but trust me; they loved to pull world-class mindjobs.  And they were experts at it.  They tried to pull one on me, but unfortunately for them, they had finally found someone who saw through their illusions."

"So you took it upon yourself to kill them?"

"No.  I actually decided to screw my instincts and let them go about their business at first.  Then I heard about some of the more evil things they'd done.  Yet I figured that I hadn't heard anything recently, so maybe they were trying to redeem themselves."  His tone grew dark.  "Something I can understand."  He coughed, and his tone was the serious yet neutral tone it had been a moment before.  "I was wrong.  They were planning to destroy quite a few planets near them, and they all had innocent habitants, many of them.  I couldn't let that kind of slaughter happen, so I made the decision.  I had to terminate the evil before it spread, and destroyed innocence."  He shrugged.  "Does that make me a murderer?  I don't know.  But I know I never have, nor ever will, regret what I did that day."

"You could've gone through the proper channels," Dylan replied, in the same neutral tone.

"Dylan, I tried.  But sometimes, the proper channels aren't fast enough," he stated sadly, mixed with a bit of old hopelessness.  Something had happened to him, something he'd tried to handle by going through the proper channels, but something that those channels had been too slow to stop.

"How many planets stood to be wiped out," he asked.

"Five.  All were technologically inferior to those things.  I wouldn't have interfered if there was any chance that the planets could have fended for themselves, but there really wasn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"Because I didn't act until two were already destroyed."

"What," Dylan asked dumbly.

"Two were already gone, their inhabitants permanently wiped from the universe, never to be seen or heard from again.  Possibilities were snuffed out, good possibilities."  His voice was full of self-loathing, acid, and pain.  "Billions of people dead, because I was too damn nervous about being," he paused, and then sneered, "hasty."  He nodded.  "So yes, Captain, I suppose I AM a murderer, but not in the sense you think."  He jerked his thumb at the paused video file.  "I'm not THEIR murderer."  There was a rather large star in view and he pointed at it.  "I'm THEIR murderer."  He sighed and seemed to deflate.  "So, you probably need to put me in the brig until you can decide what to do with me.  I won't fight it.  Just let me get a shower first, ok?"

....................................

"He's WHERE," Trance blurted, upon finding out where Hex was.  They were all in the conference room, seated around the table.  Rommie and Dylan had just informed them of Hex's current location, and they were about to inform the rest of the crew why he was there.  Dylan, knowing of the growing relationship between the pair, spoke in a soft, comforting voice.

"He's in the brig Trance."

"W-why?  What could he have done to deserve being in the brig?"

"We're about to show you," Rommie replied gently.  Trance wanted to say more but wisely waited until after gathering all the information.  The video files played, and silence descended upon the room.  Finally, after a moment, Harper spoke up.

"Well, that was. . .ah hell, forget it.  I can't think of anything funny to say."

"He must have had his reasons," Trance replied, defending Hex.

"Apparently he did," Dylan replied.  "As a matter of fact Trance, I think maybe it would be a good idea if you went and talked to him.  Maybe you could help him, and I think he needs it."  She was up and out of the room immediately.

"The rest of you should know why he did what he did, but first, you should know why I REALLY put him in the brig.  He definitely needed to talk to someone, and I doubted he would pursue that course willingly, so instead I put him in the brig, where he has nowhere else to go."

"What about those," Tyr asked, gesturing to the video files.

"Rommie checked it out after putting him in the brig.  I'm not sure if his reasons were real, but what he said about the planets being destroyed and the others being threatened was true.  I can only assume he was telling the truth about the rest."

"You can only hope, you mean," Beka replied.

"Yeah," Dylan said, nodding.  "Yeah."

....................................

Hex was sitting in a far corner, singing, when Trance came running.  Deciding to wait and see what was going on, she stopped, hugged the wall, and listened.

"How can you see into my eyes 

Like open doors?

My spirit. . .was sleeping somewhere cold

Until you. . .found it there in me. . .in me."

Trance, deciding she needed to add a little pep to what sounded like a very depressed Hex, sprang out into his field of vision, smiling cheerfully.  She took one look into his eyes and immediately grew worried.  "Something's wrong."

"Just wondering at how much I've changed since stepping onto this ship."

"You've changed?"

"Yeah.  More than I thought I would."  He sighed, shaking his head.  "Tell me:  The first time you looked into my eyes, what did you see?"  Trance thought back to when they first met, thought about that time he'd bowed to her and called her 'Milady' and asked her if she'd like help going to a more comfortable part of the ship.  She'd looked into his eyes then, but looked away quickly.  What she saw there, for the briefest of moments, was pain and anguish, and worse:  An acceptance.  He thought he deserved the pain, the sorrow, and the guilt, all of it.

"A man who was in a great deal of pain, and that felt he deserved it," she said honestly.  He began to speak again, but she continued talking.  "They say the eyes are the windows to the soul."  He stopped in mid-sentence and nodded.

"Yes, that's what they say."

"I think that's true.  People can put up mirrors in front of the windows, but in the end, the windows can still be seen through.  All you have to do is break the mirrors, or look very quickly, before they can be put up."

"I've heard that too."

"I looked in your windows that first time we met.  I looked past the pain, past the anguish, past it all, and I saw your soul."

"And what did you see?"

"A man-a brave, selfless man-who didn't deserve the pain that I had glimpsed in his eyes."

"I'm beginning to wonder whether you're right about that."  He sighed.  "And I'm sorry."

"For what," she asked, truly perplexed.

"For not telling you about those. . .incidents."  She smiled and got closer to the bars, hoping to reach in and take his hands.  Instead, however, she watched him suddenly groan and pass out.  She immediately called Andromeda.

....................................

Unbeknownst to Hex, however, was that he was seeing some form of odd dream.  To him, it was completely real.  In reality, it was all just a dream.  Either way, Trance called Andromeda in the dream as well as in real life, though in the dream she was calling for a different reason.  "Rommie?  Think it'd be ok to let Hex out?"  There was a pause, and then Rommie's hologram appeared in front of them.

"Yes.  And Hex, just to let you know, your story checks out."  The bars on his cell parted and Hex walked out.  "Except, that is, for one little detail that Captain Hunt said he didn't want to hear."

"Yes Rommie, those incidents were dated.  However, in all the confusion of the fighting, they were dated INCORRECTLY."

"Hex, could we, and by we I mean the three of us, discuss something in your quarters?"

"Sure thing.  Meet you up there?"

....................................

And sure enough, Rommie was waiting for the pair when they entered.  "Ok Rommie, first of all.  Privacy mode, if you'd please."

"Already done."

"Ok, so then what is it you want to talk to me about," Hex asked, plopping down on the bed.  Trance plopped down next to him.

"Just these," the hologram replied, gesturing to the small viewscreen that Hex had requested in his quarters.  The screen turned on and a series of video files played, first a file of him sitting in his quarters, reading the quotation from "The Soulforge" out loud.  The second was of him blowing up at Harper, pushing him out into the hallway, and punching the wall.  The third was when he was talking about the legend that made him cautious about the asteroid field they had come in contact with.  The fourth and fifth were the two that had just been uncovered.  And, finally, the sixth was when he was walking down the hallway with Dylan and Harper, dressed in costume.  The video file was paused.  "Now, here's what REALLY catches my interest.  You mumbled something that you thought was inaudible, but I was able to amplify it."

"Can't control everything.  I just hope this time it doesn't come back to bite me on my shiny silver ass."

"Care to enlighten us to the meaning of that," the hologram asked.

"In all honesty?"  She nodded.  "Not really."  The hologram looked like she was going to protest, but then Trance stood up and stepped forward.

"I have my secrets too Rommie.  So does Harper, so does Beka, so does Dylan, and so does Tyr.  None of us gets questioned like this."

"True, but none of us has been as mysterious, or seems to have so many secrets.  A few of those I could understand, but those video files, the first few, I didn't even notice until just recently.  I'd at least like to know about that strength-"

"I'm a god," Hex replied calmly.  When both the women gawked at him, he began to laugh.  "A god of luck.  That wall was already a little weak.  I noticed that flaw and since I wanted a dramatic effect, I made sure I pushed Harper's head near it and then let fly with my fist.  No super strength behind that."

"What about that quote," Rommie asked.

"What, the Soulforge thing?"  He sighed.  "That's just something I wrote when I was a kid."

"And the 'shiny silver ass' comment?"

"I had a nickname once, Quicksilver.  Silver, get it?"

"And the legend, how did you know about that?"  Trance gave a silent nod, smiling slightly.

"I listen to madmen," Hex replied simply.  "Check some files from asylums and institutions.  I'm sure you could put the same thing together."

"When did you get the chance to talk to madmen?"  Hex sighed, shook his head.

"There were some that didn't make it into an institution or asylum.  They ended up in the alleys.  And as such, they ended up as my neighbors."  Trance's eyes widened.  "Yes, that's right.  I was homeless, for a long time, really.  Let's just say that my parents didn't enjoy my free spirit and lateral thinking, so they kicked me out."

"How old were you," Trance asked, her tone comforting.

"Ten."

"Ten," Rommie repeated, shocked.

"Yeah.  When you LIVE on the streets, you learn how to survive there fairly quickly."

"The streets of what planet, if you don't mind me asking," Rommie asked.

"All over.  Spent some time on Cintii (they wanted to do an experiment on homeless kids and were paying good money) Earth, and most recently, Sarenal."

"And when did you meet this Ravonas guy?"  His face immediately clouded.

"A long time ago.  He's a very bad man."

"Did he hurt you?"  Hex laughed.

"More than you can imagine."  They sat in silence for a few moments, before the hologram cursed and alarms started blaring.  Hex was up in a flash, forcelance out and ready.

"Who is it this time?"

"They look like your little friends from Sarenal," Rommie shouted back.

"Shit."  The doors opened and a flood of enemies charged in.  Hex was ready.  He fried the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth ones.  It was then Trance got a look at them.  The only possible description could be draconian, like the reptilian looking form of Dr. Ravonas.

"So, Knight," roared one in a raspy, scratchy voice, "you fight with a weapon such as that now?  Without honor?"

"I fight YOU monstrosities any way I damn well choose," he roared back and fired at the creature's head.  One managed to get through and knock the forcelance from his hand.  "Ok, you wanna do this the HARD way!"  A swift punch to where the gut would be on a human, and Hex's hand came away with blood.  He ducked a kick from another reptilian creature and sprang up into the air, delivering one massive uppercut that snapped the creature's neck as he did.  He landed on the shoulders of one behind it, and he snapped his feet tightly around that creature's head.  He gave a sharp twist and the creature began to fall.  He was already in the air again, delivering a flying kick to the next creature.  "You creature's are all alike," Hex roared above the sound of alarms and battle.  "Kill one, you've killed them all!"  Trance had managed to grab his forcelance and he smiled, getting an idea.  "Trance, toss me my forcelance and I'll show you a neat trick!"  She did, and while it was in the air, he pulled another from his boot.  Grabbing the one out of the air he began to spin, and soon he was a blur.  Finally the blur stopped, and there stood before them not Hex, but a tall, skinny looking man with curly blonde hair that reached to his chin.  His skin was pale and Trance couldn't tell if he wore a shirt, as he was covered from nearly head to toe in a black leather coat, in the old Earth duster style.  It was buttoned up; so that only his baggy brown pants and combat boots could be seen.  He held two forcelances, and the grin that he gave the creatures was positively psychotic.  "Say hello to Scarecrow kiddies," he shouted gleefully, and began shooting.  The creatures began dropping everywhere, and he moved among them, faster and faster, alternating between punches and shooting, dodging the physical attacks easily and delivering his own blows.  It was a matter of perhaps five minutes before all the creatures lay dead at his feet.

"God of LUCK, huh," Rommie asked sarcastically.

"Ok, maybe more like Guardian of the Light," he replied, "but that's not important right now!  Ravonas is attempting to make his way to Command!  Rommie, slow him down!  Throw whatever barriers you can in his path!"  He paused.  "Oh, and I should probably inform you of this:  Ravonas's real name is Arcanis."

"How do I slow down a god," Rommie practically shrieked at him.

"A god of evil, remember!"  He looked around quickly.  "Anybody have anything to write with, like a marker or something?"

"What century are you from," Trance asked sarcastically.

"This life or the last one," Hex returned.

"I was being sarcastic," she replied flatly.

"Right.  Well, seriously.  I need to turn this ship into a holy relic!"

"And HOW do you do that," Rommie asked.

"Just give me something to WRITE WITH," Hex stated, patience beginning to fade.  "Oh, forget it!  I don't like using blood, but I suppose it'll have to do!"  Rommie was about to suggest the closest creature with a bleeding wound, but Hex calmly bit into his finger and let silver blood gush from there.

"Silver blood," Trance asked.

"Silver dragon," Hex returned.  "Now everybody be quiet, I need as much silence as possible to concentrate."  He made a strange symbol on the ground and somewhere above them; an infuriated and pained scream was heard.  "Never could stand up to the Seal of Light," he mumbled.

"You really are a silver dragon," Trance asked.

"I tell you I'm a god and you accept it like it's nothing, but I tell you I'm a big lizard and you question," Hex replied jokingly.  "Yes, I'm a silver dragon.  After all I've already told you, why would I lie now?"  Trance nodded, conceding his point.  "Now, I've got to be off to deal with Arcanis.  Now that you all know, I won't have to hold back.  All I ask is get us both out into space."

"You can breath in space," Rommie asked, shocked.

"God, remember," he replied.

"Right.  Have to enter that one in the database," the hologram replied.  "So what can I do now?"

"Where is he," Hex asked.

"Obs. Deck."

"Lock him in.  He won't be able to touch anything without an enormous, searing pain, considering you're now a holy relic."

"Well, as Harper would say, 'that's nifty.'  Is it permanent?"

"As long as the symbol stays on," Hex replied.  "It will wash off, don't worry."

"Nice.  So what can we do," Trance asked.

"Stay here," Hex replied.

"Out of the question," Trance shot back.

"Trust me Trance, you want to stay here."

"No I don't."

"YES, you do."

"Why are you so damn persistent about this," Trance grumbled rhetorically.

"I just am, OK?!"  She noted the fear and desperation in his voice and her tone and attitude softened a little.

"You know something, don't you," she asked.  Rommie wisely decided to keep her holographic mouth shut and watch.  Hex sighed and shook his head.

"Sure," he said, talking to himself, "why not?  You've told them everything else, might as well tell them this."  He then directed his next comment at Trance.  "You can take peeks into the future, right?"

"Sometimes," she replied.

"Well, sometimes I'm shown the possible futures.  And in one of them, the one that definitely seems most likely now, you. . .!"  He shook his head violently and walked passed her.  "Stay here."

"No," she stated flatly.

"I can easily set up a barrier to keep you from leaving this room."

"You can, but you won't," she replied.  Hex nodded.

"You're right."  And on that note, he strode out of the room, headed for Obs. Deck.

....................................

Back in the real world, Hex was in Med Bay, lying in a bed.  Trance hadn't bothered to scan him for any physical problems, doubting she'd get anything.  She may have tried if all the others weren't with them, but they were, and she doubted that he'd want something like that spread around.  "Is he ok," Dylan asked.

"I don't know.  I scanned him before you all got here," she lied, "and there appears to be nothing physically wrong with him.  As for his mental state, you saw those scans yourself.  His mind is very active.  I think he's dreaming."

"Yeah," Harper stated, "but dreaming about WHAT?  Those scans showed some muchos grande activity goin' on in his noggin.  What d'ya think could be causin' that?"  Trance shrugged.

"My best guess," she stated, covering up the fact that she couldn't see probabilities where Hex was concerned, "he's probably dreaming of something stressful.  Maybe he's reliving part of the battle on Sarenal.  From what you guys told us, that would definitely cause this kind of activity."

"Could that harm him," Dylan asked.

"Probably not.  Everyone dreams, so I wouldn't worry about it too much."  The others nodded and slowly left, leaving Trance alone with Hex.  She leaned down and gave him a peck on the cheek.  "You better wake up," she replied.  "Because I think I love you, and I still need to tell you that."

....................................

In the dream world, Hex was fighting Ravonas on Obs. Deck.  Ravonas made a comment about growing impatient.  "Rommie, he's about to blast through into space!  Make sure this room stays closed off!"  An explosion sounded, and Ravonas slid out into open space.  Hex had no problem standing his ground, but was suddenly faced with another problem.  Trance, who had been hiding behind a plant during the fight, was being sucked forwards.  Hex calmly grabbed hold of her.  "I told you to stay behind," he shouted.  Ravonas, who had now become a huge black dragon, laughed from outside as Trance slipped from Hex's grasp.

"Having a problem, dear brother?  Well, allow me to fix it for you!"  He spat out acid and it struck Trance in the back of the head.  She began to fall as she was pulled closer towards the hole leading outside, into space.  Hex rushed up and grabbed her, pulling her into his arms.  She was dead, and his eyes were burning, his soul was on fire, and all he wanted to do at that exact moment was kill.  Without even giving it a second thought, he placed her on the ground and altered gravity to make sure she stayed there.  It was then that he remembered where he'd seen these images before.  At this point, however, it didn't matter.  She was dead, and Arcanis had killed her.

"I WILL DAMN YOU TO THE ETERNAL FIRES OF OBLIVION!!!!"  He rushed out into space, taking on his silver dragon form once he was outside.  He tore Ravonas to pieces easily, but his rage was still there, still uncontrolled.  He scorched two planets with his breath and then flew out, far away into space, and grew enormous, and with a swish of his tail another planet fell.  He gazed at the rubble of the planets he had destroyed for long moments, and then he flew off.

The next part of the dream flew by, and he was no longer in it, but watching on his plane of glass.  Dylan and the others spending a year and a half to find him, Harper accidentally finding him by flipping a coin and going into a run down bar, the Andromeda crew gradually becoming disillusioned, and one by one the crew dying.  And finally, Hex saw himself, walking around surrounded on all sides by blackness.  Oblivion, he knew.  And the scariest part of it all was the one thought that passed through his mind as he walked.

'Finally, I can have peace.'  And then, he woke up.

....................................

Hex's eyes shot open, and the first thing he saw was Trance, smiling down at him.  His arms shot out and wrapped around her waist, and he gently buried his face into her stomach.  Surprised and concerned by the gesture, Trance gently stroked his hair while reaching down to hold him close to her.  "What is it, what's wrong?"

"Dream," he mumbled, muffled.  She felt wetness against her stomach, and suddenly she realized that he was crying!

"Ssshhh, it's ok now.  Whatever it was is gone, it was just a dream."

"No.  More than a dream.  Never let it happen."

"What happened," she asked softly, gently taking his head in her hands and making him look at her, sitting down on the bed as she did.

"No.  Can't let it happen."

"What is it?  Hex, what is it?  You know you can tell me."

"I love you," he stated.

"I love you too," she replied.  "And that's why I'm so concerned.  I-"  She was cut off as she felt his lips pressing against hers, and they kissed.  She would've normally told him to at least wait for her to finish her sentence, but she enjoyed the warmth and joy and relief radiating from him, so she let it drop and simply kissed back.  "Only a dream," he mumbled under his breath.  "Still have time to fix it."

....................................

"So, Mr. Mason.  Feeling better," Dylan asked from his seated position on a bed across from Hex's.

"Yeah, I am.  Thanks for asking."

"You're a member of my crew and a friend.  I think its part of the job description."  Hex chuckled.

"Either way, thanks."  Dylan leaned back.

"Not a problem."  They both sat in silence for a moment.  "So, what was it you were dreaming about?  From the mental scan it seemed pretty intense."

"It wasn't anything you'd be interested in Dylan."

"Try me."

"Really, don't worry about it."  Dylan just gave him a look and Hex sighed.  "It was about Ravonas, ok?  I was fighting him."

"Who won?"  Hex's face darkened.

"That depends on what you mean by the word 'won.'"  Dylan noticed the considerable darkening of his face and didn't follow up.

"Trance isn't letting you out yet," Dylan asked.  Hex's face cleared a bit and he nodded.

"You know how it is."

"Does she think anything is seriously wrong with you?"

"Nah, just being protective."  Hex smiled.  "Can't say I mind, y'know?"  Dylan gave a little laugh and got up, heading out.

"Nice to see you're ok Mr. Mason."

Once Dylan was out of earshot, Hex mumbled, "That depends on what you mean by the word 'ok.'"

....................................

"Harper, for the thousandth time, NO, I will NOT sneak out of Med Bay to go pull some pranks with you!"

"Hey, easy there big guy, just askin'.  Tryin' ta lighten the mood, y'know."  Hex grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, I know.  Still, I'd be willing to bet that if I had said yes, you'd have a plan cooked up in the time it takes me to blink, huh?"  Harper laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Am I that transparent?"

"Sorry to say it, but yeah, you are," Hex grinned.  "And, y'know. . .I only said I wouldn't SNEAK OUT of Med Bay to help you with your prankage."  His grin grew mischievous as he continued, "Once I'm LET OUT, well that's another story."  Harper laughed and clapped Hex on the back merrily.

"I knew you wouldn't let me down big guy, I-"

"Harper, he needs to get some rest," Trance called from her position at one of the scanners, checking Hex's brainwave patterns for signs of abnormalities, something she'd insisted on doing every day after that dream.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Harper replied, then in a hushed whisper, "don't tell her about the pranks!"  Hex grinned and made the universal sign for "my lips are zipped."  Harper grinned and looked like he was going to say something else, but a look from Trance forced him to hightail it out the door.  Hex had to admit, he was a little sleepy, so he laid down and went to sleep instead of coaxing Trance away from the screens for the daily make-out session.

....................................

"What?  Where am. . .oh."  He was in the run down bar he'd seen in the dream.  There were no people there, just as it had been in the dream, a few minutes before Harper walked in.  "The question is, why?"  Suddenly the red haired man from the alternate plane of existence was sitting next to him, but this time in a faded Commonwealth uniform, open at the chest to reveal a faded gray shirt.

"I'll have a beer, if you wouldn't mind," the man replied.

"Since when have you been a drinker," Hex asked, his tone jovial.

"It fits the motif," he replied, and then gestured down at his attire.  "You like?"  A slight grin played across Hex's face, the elder version of himself that he'd seen in the dream.

"It fits the motif," he replied.  The red haired man smirked.  "So, I assume you want to talk to me about something?"

"Yes."

"About my dream?"

"Correct."

"It wasn't a dream, was it?"

"For the time being, it was, and it was not.  You were given the opportunity; in what was really only a brief few minutes, to experience the most likely possible future.  Things had to be sped up a bit at the end, but you understood what was the most pertinent information to your present situation."

"That I did," Hex replied.  "Though I'm not falling for your cover story.  You've put enough of the truth in it to clue me in."  The red haired man smirked slightly.

"Oh, did I?  I didn't notice."  He chuckled and took a sip of the beer.  "Gah, now I know why I never touched this stuff before."  Hex laughed and took a drink from his own bottle, which he had just discovered had been in his hand the entire time.  "So," the red haired man continued, still sounding a bit disgusted at the beverage, "I'd like to hear what you think I've clued you into."

"You can't tell me yes or no even if I was right, so what's the point?"

"Consider it idle chatter until you're old friend walks in."

"Alright," Hex replied, still unused to talking about Harper in that manner.  "What happened wasn't a dream.  It happened that way, and then later, once I discovered the entrance to Oblivion, I was far too pained to care about my actions, and I entered.  When I did, the version of myself that currently inhabits this older body, died.  However, when I was reunited with that shard of my being, still full of hopefulness, in Oblivion, I blasted my way out, and the different periods of my occurrences in this timeline were placed back where they belonged when I exited.  However, for that brief period that I was dead so was he."  There was no question among the two about whom Hex was referring to; both seemed to know the person in question rather closely.  Hex appeared to detest that fact, while the red haired man wore the same impartial face he always wore when he wasn't smirking or frowning at something he'd put under the proverbial microscope.  "And he thus missed whatever opening he had to attack."  The red haired man went to take another drink before remembering how it had ended the last time he tried.

"Bartender?  A red wine please, the best you've got."  He chuckled at his jest and a red wine appeared in front of him out of force of will.  The red haired man extended the beer to Hex.  "Do you want this?"  Hex took the offered drink with a nod of thanks and put it next to him, deciding to finish off his already half gone drink before moving on to his new one.

"So is that all you wanted to talk to me about," Hex asked.  "If so, why go through all the trouble of talking to me here?"

"Because that's not all I wanted to talk to you about.  I'm warning you now, that future can still come to pass.  You must be vigilant, because next time, you won't get that lucky."

"When I die, he dies as well."

"Not for much longer.  He's discovered the ancient knowledge."  Hex coughed up the drink he'd been in the process of swallowing.

"What," he said, his voice still sounding slightly scratchy from the cough, mixed with shock from the red haired man's statement.  "He couldn't have.  We were told father locked that knowledge away so none of us could reach it!"  The red haired man laughed.

"You know how father was.  Always unpredictable, never trusting himself to stay firm on a decision.  But I suppose that's par for the course when you're chaos incarnate."

"Just tell me how it was discovered.  This could change the entire playing field."

"Indeed it could.  That's why I'm here to see you.  At any rate, I can see you're getting a little impatient, and you never did have the best temper, so. . .continuing."  Hex smirked slightly but stayed silent.  "Father, it seems, truly wanted to stay firm on this decision, knowing the irreparable harm it could have on the universe if such information were to get out.  However, he knew that he would not be able to stay firm on the decision unless someone else stood behind him.  And in order to do that, they would need to know the ancient knowledge."  The red haired man stopped, waiting for Hex to inevitably put the rest together himself.

"So father told the ancient knowledge to someone else.  And he must have intimidated it out of that someone."

"Precisely."  Hex thought for a minute before responding.

"Father would not have entrusted that kind of information to just one person."

"I never said he had."

"Can you tell me if he told anyone else?"

"Certainly."  The red haired man took a sip from his wine.  "Yes, he did."

"Can you tell me how many people?"

"Curious, aren't you?  Yes, I can.  There are four other people with the knowledge, not counting the one Ravonas tapped, because that one is dead."

"Can you tell me who they are?"

"Now, I know what you're next two questions are going to be.  I can answer only one of those questions.  Make your choice."

". . .Where do each of them live?"

"Is that your final choice," the red haired man asked.

"Yes."

"Alright then.  One lives on Ciinti, one in a small hut in a forest in Tarn Vedra, one lives on Earth-"

"Earth?"

"Yes, Earth.  And the other lives. . .well, you'd really rather not know."

"Where?"  The red haired man looked at his watch and drained his wine.

"Oh, look at the time.  Just a few seconds before your old friend Mr. Harper walks in."

"Yeah, yeah.  Fine, if you're not going to tell me, then at least tell me who it is."  The red haired man stopped and considered that before responding.

"Apoxis."

"Oh, great, that little weasel?  He could be anywhere."

"Exactly why I said you didn't want to know.  Now, I really must be going, and so should you."  The red haired man started to fade out, and so did Hex's surroundings.  His clothing began to fade, revealing the clothing he'd been wearing previously.  Even the beer began to fade away.

"Is this future still possible," he asked as the red haired man had almost completely faded.

"Imminently," rang the red haired man's last words before completely disappearing.

....................................

Hex bolted up with a start, surprising Trance, who was trying to gently nudge him to wake him up.  "Hex, what happened?"  But Hex was already up, looking like a general ready to command an army.

"Andromeda, shipwide message:  Report to the conference room, we have something to discuss."


	6. Discussions

**New Arrival**

**Chapter Four**

**Discussions**

"Alright Mr. Mason," Dylan groaned, sitting in a chair near the back of the room due to the fact that he'd been the last to get to the conference room, "what was so important that you needed to see us all immediately?"  The anxious tension in the room was palpable as Hex paced back and forth at the head of the table, Trance's concerned gaze never leaving his worry creased face.  "Mr. Mason?"

"Well, OUT with it boy, you interrupted my daily exercise," an impatient Tyr grouched.

"We need to go to Tarn Vedra."  Dylan coughed in surprise, while Tyr's fingers immediately stopped drumming against the table.  Harper did a double take and Beka jumped slightly.  Trance was the only person there besides Hex with no reaction at all.

". . .My exercise can wait," Tyr replied after a minute.

"Nobody knows the way to Tarn Vedra," Harper pointed out in his squeaky, excited voice.

"Mr. Harper's right," Dylan replied.  "And I LIVED there."

"Damn, I CAN'T believe you called us all here for THAT," Beka grumbled.

"Maybe we should just let Hex TALK," Trance stated flatly.  Dylan glanced first at her and then at Tyr.

"What's your vote, Tyr?"  Tyr looked up at Hex before replying.

"I think we should let him speak.  He isn't foolish enough to call us all up here for a prank."  Dylan sighed and shrugged, and then gestured at Hex, as if to say "continue."  Hex nodded and did just that.

"I have reason to believe there is information as to a threat that could be coming our way on Tarn Vedra."  Dylan nodded and sat up a little straighter.

"Acknowledged, but what kind of threat?"

"A very big one."  The tone of Hex's voice said it all.

"Ravonas?"

"Yes."

"Well, that is apparently a fairly big threat, but the fact remains that no one knows the way to Tarn Vedra."

"I do," Hex replied.  Silence descended on the room for a total of three minutes.  Finally, when the silence seemed like it would stretch on for longer, Tyr interrupted it.

"You, boy, are full of surprises."

"Indeed you are," Dylan replied, "but in this case, I don't see why we shouldn't follow up on it.  If you really know the way to Tarn Vedra, I don't see why we can't check it out."  Harper looked around nervously for a few seconds before speaking up.

"Well, uh. . .not that I don't believe ya big guy, but. . .it's TARN VEDRA we're talkin' about here.  How d'ya know the way?"

"When you travel around with nobody to trust in but yourself, you tend to get pretty good at trusting your instincts," Hex replied.  "I'll get us there."

"You don't even know how to FLY," Beka said, sounding frustrated.

"Not exactly," was Hex's reply.  "But I guess you won't know unless you let me try."

"Dylan, you can't be serious about this," Beka fumed.

"Beka, I'm not saying I believe him.  I'm just saying that if it really is a big threat, can we really risk not checking into it, even if it is a wild goose chase?"

"And if this wild goose chase turns up nothing, and we find out we've wasted the only time we had on it, what then?"

"Then I'll handle my business," Hex cut in sharply.  "It would be my mistake, and I would fix it."

"Oh please, you're a kid, what can you do," Beka replied, not meaning to sound dismissive but coming across that way anyway.  Silence again descended on the room, but at the same time, Hex seemed to change.  There was nothing visibly different about him, not unless you looked into his eyes.  They seemed. . .older, wiser, than they had before.  The aura he gave off added to that, and when he spoke, his voice seemed to have the wisdom of ages behind it.

"Things are not always as they appear, Ms. Valentine.  Sometimes, someone that looks like a child can do quite a bit more than someone that looks like an adult."

....................................

"Do you know where Ravonas is now," Trance asked as she strode down towards Hydroponics with Hex, hand in hand.  "I mean, we haven't even seen him since that attack.  Why would he come back now?"

"He sees an opportunity to get what he wants," Hex replied, squeezing her hand slightly.

"What does he want?"

"Pain and suffering."  The pair fell into silence for a few minutes, and then Trance decided she should bring up something.

"Beka didn't mean anything by what she said, you know that," she said, half statement and half question.

"Yeah, I know," Hex sighed, "but there's just too much going on right now, and I got upset.  I know she didn't mean to be dismissive like that, she's just used to kids being weaker than adults."  Trance smiled slightly and squeezed his hand.

"It's alright, nobody blamed you."  She continued to walk, but he stopped, and she didn't realize until she was jerked backwards, his hand still clutching hers.  "What is it?"

"Darkness.  Great darkness.  Ravonas has found himself an ally."

"Who is it?"

".You know the ally."

"I do?"

"When you looked into my eyes the first time, what did you see?"

"I already told you, I saw-"

"ALL of what you saw."  Silence descended on them yet again, and then, finally, Trance spoke.

"I saw.an age.far older than myself.  A wisdom that spanned millennia."

"What do you see now?"

"Now?  .Concern.love.anger.and fear, mostly, but there's always so much going on in your eyes it's hard to tell."  Now it was Hex's turn to fall silent, and then his head dropped, chin touching his chest.  "Hex?  What's wrong?"

"I shouldn't have come here," he replied suddenly, startling Trance with both the words and tone of utter hopelessness in his voice.

"Hex.if you hadn't come, we'd never have met.."

".I know, and I don't mean it like that at all.  You are probably the best thing that's happened to me in my extremely long life.  What I mean.is that I've lived an alternate lifetime, Trance, one that, due to a sheer stroke of luck, didn't come to be.  Were it not for one instant of anger and rebellion.I would be in Oblivion, and you would be dead, as would the rest of the crew."

"So," Trance replied, sounding a bit confused as to what that had to do with anything.  "You just said that it didn't come to be."

"I also said it was a stroke of luck that kept it from happening," he sighed, his eyes closing.  "I can still see you falling.falling.I thought you would just keep falling.and I wanted to kill Ravonas.and I wanted to smash things, anything.but above all that.I knew it was my fault, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had caused it."  It was only then that Trance noticed the tears slowly trickling down Hex's face.  She smiled softly and wiped the tears from his cheeks, and then gently titled his head so he was looking into her eyes.

"No tears, my love, no tears.  No matter what happened in that timeline, no matter how bad it got, no matter what you or anyone else did, it wasn't your fault.  I have no idea what it was that happened, but I know with an absolute, concrete certainty that it wasn't your fault.  Whatever happened, you could never, ever be at fault for my death."  She placed a brief, soft kiss on his lips and continued, "You love me too much."  Hex let a soft chuckle choke past his lips and he wrapped his arms around Trance's waist.  "There, that's better," she said softly, returning the embrace tightly and not letting go.  "I don't want you to ever say those words again, ok?  Don't even think them."  He looked into her eyes and saw the love there, saw the love she felt for him and the undying intensity of the warrior spirit that resided within her body.

"I love you Trance.  I love you with all of my heart and all of my soul," he told her, conviction dripping from his voice like water from a melting ice cube.  She smiled and kissed him again.

"I know, my brave, fallen warrior.  I know."

And then, the alarms sounded.


	7. Alarms and What They Mean

**New Arrival**

**Chapter Five**

**Alarms and What They Mean**

_"nothing ever stops all these thoughts_

_and the pain attached to them_

_sometimes I wonder why this is happening_

_it's why nothing I can do will distract me when_

_I think of how I shot myself in the back again."_

_An excerpt from the song Figure 9 by late 20th, early 21st century rap/rock band Linkin Park._

"We can never get a moment alone," Trance sighed in mock frustration as she headed off towards command. "Typical life aboard the Andromeda," Hex joked, keeping pace with her.  Both statements were weak, however, as both of them felt the tension in the air.  Something was wrong, and it was bad, whatever it was.  Hex drew his sword and tossed Trance his handgun.  "Where do you think the others are?  I mean, they could've still been in the conference room, but I doubt it." "Me too.  They're probably heading to Command," Trance replied, skidding to a stop near a corner.  "We should be careful.  If we're being boarded or something, they might be around whatever corner we turn."  Hex nodded his silent approval and pressed himself against the wall next to her. "Ready," Hex whispered just loud enough to be heard over the alarms.  Trance gave a brief nod of confirmation, and Hex added, "On three."  He paused, and then began the countdown.  "One."  He got a tighter grip on his sword while Trance made a quick check of the handgun.  "Two."  Hex and Trance both tensed, waiting for the last portion of the countdown.  "Three," he let out in a hissing whisper, and the two of them dashed around the corner.  Trance stopped, prepared to fire, while Hex darted forward, sword at the ready. There was no one there. "Well, I guess that answers that question," Trance said jokingly.  Hex shook his head; the tension was still there. "We need to go to Command.  I can't tell what, but something big is happening up there." .................................... "Something big indeed," Ravonas Kincaid growled gleefully.  Dylan was unconscious, thrown against the far left wall of the Command Deck.  Harper was hiding behind a console, while Tyr was guarding the fallen Dylan Hunt, his Gauss Rifle pointed at Dylan's head.  Rommie was badly damaged, pulled behind the same console as Harper was hiding behind, her legs no longer functioning.  "Tell me, meek one," he growled, turning his reptilian gaze to Harper, "where is the Knight and his little bitch?"  A ball of white light flew just past the man's head, and he had his answer. "I'm right here," he replied, "but I don't see a bitch anywhere.  Trance is my equal, a concept you never understood, nor even bothered to try and fathom."  Hex strode onto Command, and the walls seemed to pulse with energy.  "What are you doing on this ship, dark one?"  Tyr found his gun being lifted into the air by an unknown force, and he was forced to simply stare as it floated over to Harper.  "Harper, take that and train it on Tyr.  If he so much as moves.." "Shoot 'im, I gotcha."  Harper took the Gauss Rifle from the air a bit uneasily, but once it was in his hands, he did as he was told. "I want my body, Knight," Ravonas growled.  "You can give me my body." "I won't do that, as you well know.  Now, as per the rules of engagement, either get the hell off this ship or the two of us should take this to a more open battlefield." "You already know which option I'll chose." "That I do.  Give me an hour, and I'll be ready.  I am the one being challenged, thus it is my right to choose the field of battle." "Uh.Hex, what's goin' on man?" "That is true, Knight.  So, where do you choose to fight?"  Hex pointed at the planet below on the viewscreen. "It is uninhabited, so we can do as much damage as we want without hurting anyone." "Except your friends here on the ship." "Even you aren't that foolish."  The tension between the two men-or one man and one reptilian humanoid-was so thick you could cut it with a knife.  After a long pause, Ravonas backed down. "You're right there," the scaly man replied.  "Tyr, you go to the flagship, lead the armies towards the edge of the second planet from our current position."  Ravonas returned his gave to Hex and continued, "That should be a safe enough distance, wouldn't you say, Knight?"  Hex began to reply, but was cut off as Trance screamed from behind him.  He spun, to see her floating through the air in the direction Tyr was headed.  "The prize, Knight, will be your bitch." .................................... "The prize, Knight, will be your bitch."  Tyr hadn't expected to hear those words.  He had been comfortable with taking Dylan, even killing him, but Trance.Trance was something else.  Truth be told, Tyr wasn't even certain he could keep her detained if she didn't want to be in that position.  Even if he did have confidence in his ability to detain what he theorized could very well be a goddess of some kind, would he?  It was a similar situation with the little engineer, even though that was at times a less civil relationship than he had with the Gold One.  Could he do it?  Could he kill her? 

Yes, he decided, he could.  He was Tyr Anasazi.

....................................

"Dylan," Hex growled, less than ten minutes before he had to depart, "you're making this difficult."  They were all gathered in the conference room, except for Trance and Tyr.  They were both with Ravonas, on his flagship.

"I don't care!  Either you tell me exactly what's going on, or you aren't going down there," Dylan returned angrily.  Hex turned away and began walking towards Command.  "Where are you going?!"

"I don't expect you to understand, Dylan," Hex called back, forcing the others to follow him as he moved.  "But you can't stop me.  You couldn't no matter how hard you tried."  They passed through a door and inched closer to Command.  "You remember the fighting, Beka, Dylan."  The purposeful stride picked up the pace as they passed through another doorway.  "Harper, you remember the dent."  They could see Command.  "Rommie, you remember how I didn't appear on your sensors unless I wanted you to see me."  They entered Command.  "I am more powerful than you can imagine, all of you.  Now, I will be going down there.  Once I leave the ship, get to that space there."  He pointed to a space not too far from the planet.  "That space is safe.  When the time comes, you will receive a transmission from me.  Regardless of what you see or hear behind me, you will focus on my words and do exactly as I tell you."  He turned, bowed, and then said, "Now, I go."  With a flash of light, he was gone.  Silence descended on the crew of the Andromeda for moments that seemed like hours, until finally, Harper spoke.

"Oookay, so he DEFINITELY isn't human."

....................................

There was another flash of light down on the planet, and Hex appeared there.  It was followed, after a half hour, by a flash of black flame, and there stood Ravonas.  Hex had taken to sitting on a rock and sharpening his sword.  "It took you long enough," Hex stated, not even looking up from his work.

"Does it surprise you?"

"Not really.  You always used to be late, too."  Now Hex stood, and there was something vastly different about him.  It wasn't anything physical, but yet, it was.  His presence. . .it was suddenly far more powerful than it had been, and he suddenly appeared far more bold and regal than he had previously.  His sword was held at his side, and despite the casual position, he was obviously ready to use it at a moments notice.  "Even when dad dropped by and told you that you were getting lazy."

"I do believe we agreed never to bring up father's little visits again."

"When you killed the planet, you freed me from my bonds of honesty and morality."

"You act as if you aren't still a patron saint of the Knights."

"The Knights no longer exist," Hex said, stepping forward.  Ravonas stepped back and produced a sword of his own from one of his billowy sleeves.  "Our peoples no longer exist."  Rain began to pour down on the planet, and neither combatant seemed to notice or care.  "Our factions no longer exist."  Hex's sword gleamed from a sudden flash of lightning.  "The petty wars of our kind are over, Arcanis."  Hex took another step forward, his voice booming out across the craggy rocks of the planet.  "Our war has been the longest running, but now IT ENDS."  A bolt of lightning slammed into the ground about twenty feet away and scorched the red rock.  "Corrupter, Tormentor of Innocence, Butcher of the Gods, Devourer of Souls, and Destroyer of the World. . .your existence of darkness ends now!"

"I, too, have something to say, Silaris!"  Arcanis stepped forward now, silhouetted by a bolt of lightning.  "You prized yourself for your goodness and your light, and you hated me for my darkness-"

"No!"  Silaris rode right on overtop of Arcanis.  "I forgave you your darkness-"

"You PITIED me," Arcanis spat.  "You and all of your other little cardboard cut-outs of goodness!"

"Yes!  Yes, we PITIED you!"

"PITY.I did not need your PITY, brother!  I needed your love!"

"Do you know WHY we pitied you, oh ignorant one?!"  Arcanis opened his mouth to shout some retort, but Silaris stepped even closer and continued shouting.  "We pitied you because you had no choice but to be evil!  None of us did!  That is why there was such discontent among the forces of good in the later years of our planet's history!"

".What," Arcanis asked, taken aback.

"Yes, Arcanis.  It was a secret that our father never told us."  Silaris sighed, and for a moment he appeared to be a haggard old man instead of the young, angry warrior that he was.  "We.none of us.had any choice in our purposes or alignments.  We were appointed by father, and could not be any different than how he saw us when he made us."

". . .Be that as it may, we are who we are," Arcanis replied, a devilish grin growing across his face.

"Yes, I suppose we are," Silaris returned, and he again looked like the young warrior.

"Much like your very, very creative little girlfriend," Arcanis stated cockily.  He then waved his hand over toward a rock formation near the mouth of a cave.  The rocks flung away from each other to reveal Trance crouching behind them.  "Though, I must admit, I'm at a loss for just how she got down here."  Hex's eyes had widened to the size of billiard balls in a matter of seconds.  "My, my.  I do believe the only more comical facial expressions I've ever seen are those of humans when they are in the process of making love."  Hex flung out his hand and Arcanis was flung backwards, through two stalagmites, and halfway into a large boulder.  Hex then spun and stalked towards Trance.

"What the HELL are you DOING here?!"

"I came to help you," Trance returned, amazed at the amount of fire that was in his voice.

"Of all the stupid-Oh, just come on."  He grabbed Trance by the arm and began dragging her through the cave.  He had just reached the mouth and given her a little push when he heard it.

The sound of feet hitting ground.  It was followed almost immediately thereafter by the sound of a blast, and the mouth of the cave began to cave in.  Hex found his lower half buried under a rather large rock.  There wasn't time for him to dig himself out and still save Trance, so he merely stretched out his hand towards her.  "Run!  Run, and don't look back!"  At first Trance didn't move, but when she felt herself being shoved away in the same manner that Arcanis had been, if a good deal more gently, she turned and ran, tears welling up in her eyes.

....................................

Meanwhile, on board the Andromeda, the view screen blared to life.  They had been waiting for Hex's transmission since fixing their position, and now it was finally coming.  It was blurry, and they couldn't clearly see anything, but they distinctly saw Hex's face and heard his voice.  "Trance _crrst_.  Pick up _crrrkle_ediately.  Scan. . .no time for coordi_sssk_.  Good. . .bye."  With that, the transmission died.  All were silent as they moved down to the planet, scanning for Trance.  They didn't get a conclusive reading, but over their time together, they'd learned that the anomalous life sign in any scan was more than likely Trance.  When they finally did pick her up, Rommie escorted her straight to the Infirmary, where she could be checked out while reporting on what had occurred.

By the end of her story, she was a crying wreck, Dylan was trying to calm her, Harper cried onto Beka's shoulder, and Rommie leaned heavily against the wall closest to the door.

Hex Mason was dead, and all involved had lost something dear.

....................................

Down on the planet, an ominous storm was brewing.  Arcanis stood on a stalagmite, arms raised high in triumph, his face and body rejuvenating and becoming younger by the second.

Arcanis had succeeded.  May Silaris help the Universe. 


	8. Reunion

**Andromeda**

**New Arrival**

**Chapter Six**

**Reunions**

The days following the death of Hex Mason were the most boring, yet somehow most hectic and chaotic, days for the entire crew.  They were all mourning Hex's death, and there were several allotted days off for each crewmember.  Somehow, they all expected him to send an impatient transmission after a couple days to tell them to pick him up.

No transmission came, and eventually, they were forced to move on.  Trance had insisted that they stay, but in the end, no one had hope any longer.

It had been a year since then.  Dylan had tried to hold everything together, but he had grown withdrawn in a way.  He was the picturesque High Guard Captain, but the depth of emotions he had showed in the past seemed to be guarded now.

Tyr now served Arcanis as his First Mate and Second-in-Command.  Truth be told, Tyr was being rewarded greatly for helping Arcanis breach the Andromeda, and he certainly didn't mind that.  Still, Arcanis had strenuous demands, and at times Tyr had to strain to meet them.  For the moment, Arcanis found no fault with him. . .but it was uncertain whether the situation would remain that way.

Harper constantly tried to stay cheerful and raise morale.  His jokes were kicked into high gear, and his energy was always through the roof.  No one was quite clear on who he was trying to convince, but most of the crew agreed that he was trying to convince himself that he was cheerful and fine more than he was trying to convince the crew to BE cheerful, though they had to admit, Harper was having limited success.

Beka doesn't really talk about that day.  She tries to avoid the subject as much as possible.  Whenever someone brings it up, she either changes the subject or walks away.  As can be expected, she's quite welcome to Harper's company, since he's almost always joking and never really talking about that day either.

Rommie was handling things in her own way.  She handled her duties and mourned in silence, though she had been, next to Harper, the closest to Hex.  Sometimes she would talk with Trance, and others spend time with her on drifts or planets.

Trance was the hardest hit by this tragedy.  She had loved Hex, and now that he was dead, she refused to believe it.  She tends to stay by herself, or with Rommie.  She'll often be found on Obs. Deck, leaning on the railing and looking out at space, or in Hydroponics.  She looks for Hex on every drift and planet the crew finds themselves on.

Who knew things would change on a picturesque drift that was only good for vacations?

"Dylan, are you sure this is a good idea," Beka asked, eyeing Dylan suspiciously.  "Vacation?  I mean, we haven't heard anything from the troops Arcanis commanded in a year."

"Exactly," Dylan returned.  "And it's been a boring, boring year for all of us.  Seriously, can you stay cooped up on here for much longer without going insane?"

"He's right, boss," Harper added, and then ducked a glare from Beka.  "You know how much I love Rommie, and even _I_ wanna get outside for a change."  He paused and glanced to the AI standing next to him.  "No offense, I mean."

"None taken," Rommie returned, with a very slight smile.  "Beka, they're right, you know."

"What's going on," came Trance's groggy voice from the entrance to Command.

"Dylan's just proposed a vacation," Beka told her quickly, hoping to make an ally out of Trance.

"Really?  I think it's a good idea," the golden skinned girl returned.  Beka was about to snap back a reply, but Dylan put his hand on her shoulder to remind Beka of what Trance always did when they landed, and her face softened in defeat.

"Fine," she heaved, "but I'm goin' straight to a bar and not coming back until vacation's over."

"That's your prerogative, Beka," Dylan returned, chuckling.  "Everyone is free to do what they want with this week off.  I wish I could give us more, but. . .well, we do have a schedule to keep."

....................................

"Move it," Tyr's gruff voice called as he strode through the bridge of the large, dragon-shaped flagship of the New Armies of Arcanis.  "I want these supplies loaded and ready to go **YESTERDAY**!"

"Tyr," came Arcanis' voice from behind him.  "You really need to calm down, my Nietzschean hound."  Before Tyr could proclaim that he was no hound, Arcanis continued.  "Fine, Tyr," he stated wearily, "if you are truly that eager to prove yourself to me, I have a task for you."  Arcanis strode up to the view screen of his ship and jabbed his finger at a 3D model of a planet that was in the far off distance.  "Take a vacation."

....................................

"Are you really sure letting Trance go off with Rommie is alright?"  Beka and Dylan sat in the latter's quarters, playing a game of stones to pass the time during their discussion.  "I mean, you know what they're gonna do."

"Yes," Dylan replied, nodding his head, "yes, I do.  But there's nothing I can do to stop them, and honestly, I think it might be good for them.  We all know Trance isn't having the easiest time of getting over him, and Rommie's not doing as well as she lets on."

"And if they get hurt," Beka asked, moving a stone.  "What then?"

"They won't," Dylan returned, moving a stone to meet Beka's.

"I've got a bad feeling about things," Beka stated.

"So do I," Dylan admitted, "but I can't let it get to me."

"Oh, really?"  Beka moved a stone and pushed herself up from the table.  "Checkmate."  That said, she turned and exited Dylan's quarters, as the Andromeda touched down on Arion drift.

....................................

At a crystalline lake, a boy sitting on a cliff overlooking the lake, playing the guitar stopped in the middle of his song.  He hesitated for a moment, and then turned his head around, seemingly able to see the Andromeda.  Silver scales covered the left half of his torso, his left arm replaced with a silver-scaled arm that ended in a hand with fingers that tapered into claws.  He has a patch of silver scales on his upper right leg, and one on his lower left.  He has shoulder length silver hair, and wore a long black coat with gold trim, as well as a black t-shirt, printed with three bloody, jagged, red claw marks on the chest.  His legs were covered in baggy camouflage pants that tucked into heavy combat boots.  A sword sat on his right side.  He smiled then, and began to push himself up from the cliff.

....................................

"Geez, could this band be any worse," Beka grumbled, taking a sip from her beverage.

"I don't know, Beka," Dylan returned, sipping his own.  "I think they're somewhat decent."

"C'mon Dylan, listen to 'em!  This is Idancin'/I music," Harper returned.

"How d'ya figure, Harper," Beka asked.  Dylan chuckled at the fact that Beka had walked right into Harper's trap.

"Well, why don't I show ya," Harper said, grinning, before sweeping Beka up onto the dance floor.  Dylan was left laughing good-naturedly for the first time in a year.

....................................

Tyr brooded as he strode angrily down the street of Arion drift.  'Why in the hell was I SENT to this backwater drift?!  What could Arcanis POSSIBLY want here?'  He had noticed the Andromeda landing, of course, which had partially contributed to his worsening mood.  'As soon as he makes me the genetic reincarnation of Drago-Musevnei, I will kill him.'

....................................

"Trance. . .do you really think we're going to find anything," Rommie asked, sighing.  "I mean, it's just that this is turning into one of our usual searches.  We spend a lot of time asking around, and we find nothing."

"I don't know anymore, Rommie," Trance said, sighing breathily.  "But I can't give up.  He has to be alive.  We all know what he is, he couldn't just die so easily."

"Well, normally I'd agree, but. . .we don't know what Ar-um, his brother-did to him on that planet.  Could. . .one of them kill another one?"  Rommie sounded confused, and Trance couldn't blame her.  The metaphysical and supernatural normally didn't make much sense to a being made entirely of technology and science.

"Rommie. . .I know you don't know how old I am exactly, but you know I'm really old."

The AI nodded her head in confirmation.  "Right.  What's your point?"

"He's before my time," she returned.  Rommie raised her brows in shock.  "So I don't know him, and I don't even have anything to base it on."  She paused and bit her lip tentatively.  "And. . .there's something else."

"What is it," Rommie asked, sounding concerned.

". . .I can't guess with him."

....................................

"You're looking for a guy like that?"  The kind, bony elderly man gazed into Trance's eyes through his sunglasses before nodding.  "I'll tell you a story."

"We really just want," Rommie began, but got silent when Trance raised a hand.

"Go ahead, sir," Trance soothed.

"Y'see. . .it couldn't have been more than seven months ago, now. . .this really weird lookin' kid came stumblin' into town.  He was paranoid, but a good kid, and we let him stay places for free.  He said he liked the lake best, though.  Thought it looked peaceful and such.  Well, was about three months ago, this gang of thugs comes up and starts makin' trouble for us.  Things were lookin' pretty bad, a couple people were gettin' hurt, and then this kid jus' comes up out of the bushes and starts beatin' all of 'em single-handed.  Was shootin' these blasts and stuff.  We sort of adopted him after that.  He kept us alive, the way he was helpin' us and all."  By the end of the story, Rommie and Trance were both clutching each others hands, hoping against hope that the evidence was right.

"Could you tell us what he looks like, sir," Trance asked hopefully.

"Sure thing.  Silver scales all over his body.  Well, not ALL over. . .just on his cheek, and half of his upper body and one or two patches on his legs.  His left arm's covered, though, and it ends in a big ol' hand with claws on the fingertips.  Got a head'a silver hair that all the young girls find attractive.  He doesn't seem to be interested in any of 'em, though.  Got cornered once, and he said somethin' about some "annan," whatever that is."

"Rommie, go tell the others," Trance blurted excitedly.  "Is that boy still here?"

"Sure is," the old man nodded, smiling.  "Kid hangs out down by the lake all the time.  Goes and sits there for days sometimes, just sittin', or writin', or playing guitar or somethin'."  The old man grinned briefly and added, "I think he's down there now, if you wanna go see him or something."  Without waiting for another word, Trance and Rommie took off in separate directions, Trance headed towards the lake, Rommie headed towards the bar where Dylan, Harper, and Beka were.

The old man removed his sunglasses and watched Trance leave with smile on his silver eyes.

....................................

"I'm telling you he was right here," Rommie moaned, pointing emphatically to the spot where the elderly man had been seated, less than fifteen minutes prior.  Trance was too glum to say anything, having had her hopes dashed.  The boy the elderly man had spoken of was not to be found at the lake, though it appeared as if someone had been sitting on the edge of a rock not too long ago.

"Well, Rommie. . .I'm not saying your wrong," Dylan started, "but you said yourself that he didn't look like he was in any condition to move around too much."

"Yeah, and last I checked, old guys don't just get up and run away," Beka added.

"Hey," Harper interjected, "Rommie says there was some old guy here, and _I believe her_."  Rommie smiled briefly at Harper while Beka rolled her eyes and Dylan suppressed a smile.  The mixed merriment was cut short when Rommie cocked her head for a moment and then looked towards Dylan, her face serious.

"What is it," Dylan asked, already wondering if he knew the answer.

"The ship," Rommie stated.  "It's under attack."

"What else is new," Dylan groaned as he spun and all of his crew headed back to the ship, Trance following a step or two behind everyone else.

The elderly man ducked out of an alley and followed at a much more stealthy, subdued pace.  His sunglasses lay strewn on the floor of the alley, on top of a guitar, and there was a sword strapped to his side.

....................................

"Great," Dylan mumbled.

"You're tellin' me," Harper enthused.  "A year of silence, then Arcanis sends some of his creeps after us when we're on vacation!"  The crew of the Andromeda was trying to fight off three groups of Arcanis' reptilian underlings, five in each group.  Had there been two, it wouldn't have been overly challenging, but with three. . .it was a much different story.  Dylan and Harper stood back to back, guarding the ramp, firing their blasters at any black-scaled creature that moved, while Beka, Rommie, and Trance were trying to fight their way into the ship itself, taking turns providing cover fire for Dylan and Harper.

"Is this a private party, or can anyone join," chimed an elderly, amused voice.  Heads darted up, eyes focused on the man about six feet away, and Trance and Rommie gasped.

"You," Trance called out.

"You have no idea how ironic that statement is," the elderly man returned, and his form seemed to melt and shift into a glob of silver light, which then reformed into the form of the boy Trance had hoped to find at the lake.  Without waiting for further bandying of words, he drew his sword, and was in the fray in a flash.  He slashed viciously at the reptilian creatures, felling three before anyone had time to blink.  A fourth darted up behind him, leaping into the air in an attempt to pounce.  The boy spun and shot out his left hand, palm outward, and a ball of silver energy shot forth from it, ripping through the creature and dropping it on the spot.  The fifth fell victim to a savage rake of the boy's claw.  "One group down," he called over to the stunned crew.  "Time for two."  The creatures were wary now, circling the boy in the opposite direction of the way he moved.  "You guys are always so predictable," the boy stated, and then shot another ball of silver energy from the palm of his claw.  It was large, and bowled through three reptilian creatures.  Another found himself the victim of a blast from Harper's handgun while it was trying to sneak up on the boy.  The boy stopped just long enough to give Harper quick thumbs up.  There were still six creatures to deal with.  Two swift, X shaped slashes from the boy took out two of the creatures, leaving three to fend for themselves.  The first found itself without a head as a ball of silver energy collided with it.  The second looked at his headless companion and then charged at the boy.  That one wound up impaled on the boy's sword.  The boy yanked his blade out, and the limp body fell to the ground.  Now there was only one creature left.  The boy merely smirked and quirked an eyebrow at the creature.

It turned and fled, dropping its weapon along the way.

The boy laughed and strode confidently over to Dylan, who stood rather speechless.  "Heya, Dylan," greeted Hex Mason enthusiastically.

Harper passed out on the spot.


	9. The Fight Begins

Andromeda

**New Arrival**

**Chapter Seven**

**The Fight Begins**

Far away from the drift that Hex Mason, newly discovered by his old crewmates to be alive, had taken up residence, The New Armies of Arcanis were making their first move.  As of right now, they were made up only of Nietzscheans and a few Magog.  Arcanis, being the ambitious god that he was, had decided to expand.  First he'd take a large drift of technologically inferior humans.  They would be his wild men, his barbarians.  This drift was not a problem.  They didn't even have enough time to launch a distress call, as the armies swarmed over them like an entire colony of ants converging on a cookie crumb.  Soon, Arcanis had set up a training facility on the drift, and was steadily pumping out techno-barbarians, warriors that had enhanced adrenaline constantly pumped into their bodies through an implant in their back.

The next drift to fall was a drift of programmers and engineers.  They became his researchers, his creators.  A drift that was little more than a stopping ground for mercenaries followed up this drift soon after.  These mercenaries became his techno-Dark Knights, cyborg warriors grafted with all sorts of robotic goodies.  All that was left was a drift of marksman for archers, and Arcanis would have an enormous army capable of strangling the life out of the very universe itself.

And only the haggard crew of the Andromeda, along with a wayward god, could stop him.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile, Hex Mason was helping Dylan carry Harper to his quarters to sleep off his shock.  The rest of the crew followed behind, listening in silence to the conversation between the two men.  No, they corrected themselves. . .one man and one god.  "So I guess you can't tell us what happened on that planet," Dylan questioned.

"Good guess," Hex returned, nodding.

"What if I said I'd kick you off my ship if you didn't tell me?"  Trance wanted to speak out against that, but Rommie grabbed her arm and shook her head.

"My goals no longer require me to be a crewmember on your ship," Hex replied.  "Though I'd much prefer it if I was."

"And what are those goals, Mr. Mas-"

"Dylan. . .you know who I really am.  You might as well call me by my real name."

". . .Silaris.  What are your goals?  You've always been rather mysterious about them."

"My goals have always been to defeat my brother.  When he returned from the dead, I was forced to follow."

"Forced?  By whom?  The. . .god of the underworld?"

"Not quite, Dylan.  Arcanis has always been, and will always be, a great evil.  Had he been allowed to go unchecked, he had the potential to destroy a good deal of the universe."

"So you followed him. . .out of altruism?  I still remember what you said when you were describing the legend. . .well, history, I guess. . .why would you follow him?"

"Like I said back then:  To correct my mistakes."  He paused and the door to Harper's quarters swooshed open.

"Naïveté has never been a mistake, Silaris," Dylan returned.

"It is when I knew what I knew."

"And what did you know?"  At this pointed, the rest of the crew stepped into Harper's quarters to make sure they didn't end up out of hearing distance.

"I knew that none of us, us being the gods, could never be any other alignment besides what father appointed for us.  Therefore, I could never be evil, and Arcanis could never be good.  Yet I still let myself believe him when he said he'd changed his ways.  Mistake."

"Father," Dylan asked.

"Chaos," Silaris replied.

"Your father was Chaos," Trance piped up, shocked.

"Yeah," Silaris returned.  "He didn't get that nasty streak until later, though."

"Chaos has a nasty streak," Beka asked, confused.  "I kinda figured Chaos would be ever-changing."

"He is," Silaris answered.  "Sometimes he's got the nasty streak, sometimes he's the most benevolent being I've ever met.  Kinda like waking up on the right and wrong side of the bed, only less predictable and kicked into hyper drive."

"So wait," Rommie interjected, "you said your goals were to defeat Arcanis.  He's worlds away.  How could you defeat him if you're here?"

"It always comes back to us," Silaris said, his tone intense and serious.  "No matter what we do separately, no matter what we accomplish without seeing one another for years, decades sometimes, it always comes back to us in the end.  We're drawn to each other like the moth is drawn to the flame."

"So," Trance said, hesitating before continuing, "its like a war?"

"Yes.  Our war went on from the moment we were created.  We were each made for war.  I was made to be the warrior for the side of good, and he was made to be the opposite."

"So he's the anti-you," Beka asked.

"Not quite.  We were both created at the same time, so neither one of us is the anti-Silaris or anti-Arcanis."

"Did either of you have any kids, or lovers," Trance asked, sounding pensive.

"He did, yes."

"Did you," she queried.

"No, not me.  I had professed myself to be a solitary individual, because I didn't want any of Arcanis' spies to seduce me.  Gods know they tried."  Trance started to say something, but was cut off as the holographic image of the ship's AI appeared in the room.

"Captain, will we be staying here?"

"Why would we do that," Dylan asked, and Silaris smirked.

"Dylan Hunt, have you forgotten what holiday is coming up," Silaris asked, sounding amused.  It took only a moment for everyone else to realize what exactly Silaris was talking about.

"Christmas," Dylan replied, a slight smile growing on his face.  "I guess we forgot."

"Not like there's been a real desire to be festive around here recently," Beka stated.

"There is now," Trance chimed in as Dylan made plans to stay docked on the drift for a while, Trance smiling and looking affectionately to Silaris.  Oddly enough, he seemed to be avoiding her gaze.

"So, Silaris," Beka continued, noticing what he was doing and wanting to draw Trance's attention away from it very quickly, "what's up with the new you?"

"I was reborn," he replied, giving Beka a grateful glance.  Her return look told him that the two of them would be having a private talk later.  "Well…not exactly.  You see one of the downsides to Arcanis returning to the world of the living was the loss of a piece of himself.  That piece took the form of his youthful body.  He needed to be whole in order to begin his plans, and I was the only one that could make him whole again.  Since we were identical twins before, all he had to do was absorb a skin sample from me, and he would get his body back.  Me getting stuck under those rocks was an absolute godsend – no pun intended – for him.  He cut off a piece of my leg and absorbed it."  By this point, Trance was noticing how he avoided her gaze as well.  So were the rest of the crew, as could be seen by their increasing discomfort.  There was an awkward moment of silence, followed by Dylan and the others meandering away.  Silaris started to follow, but Trance reached out and took a firm hold of his wrist.

"Silaris," Trance stated, "we need to talk."  Silaris looked futilely towards the door.  "We'll go to Sylvanus, and then we'll talk."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Why did you keep avoiding my gaze back there," Trance asked as soon as the doors to Hydroponics whirred shut.

"Trance…there's a lot I need to explain."

"That's because there's a lot you didn't tell me," she exploded, rounding on him angrily.  "You're a GOD?!  Where the hell did that come from?  I mean, I always knew you were more than you seemed to be, I could always sense that you were closer to me than to any of them, but…but…."  She sputtered out towards the end and then sighed.  "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I have my reasons," Silaris replied.

"Uh-uh," Trance stated, shaking her head.  "Sorry, I'm the mysterious one here, Silaris, and there's not room for more than one.  So you're going to tell me why you didn't tell me."

"That's a funny sentence," Silaris replied, smirking.

"We already have a joker, here, too," Trance sighed flatly.

"Trance…listen, I'll explain…but you have to know something first."

"What is it?"

"Not all of my kind is dead.  In fact, most are still alive."

"Okay, so what does that mean?"

"We have rules," he continued.  "Rules that are more like laws."

"Where are you going with this," Trance asked.

"The reason I was avoiding your gaze back there…is because I broke a lot of those rules."  He paused for a second, and then added, "Matter of fact, I think I broke almost all of them."

"…What's that mean?"

"I have until Christmas.  After that, I have to go."

"Nuh-uh," Trance stated hastily, "we just got you back, _I_ just got you back, and there's no way you're going anywhere."

"I have to."  He paused again and thought for a second.  "Listen…Arcanis isn't in any trouble, because he's a god of evil and therefore, while he knows the rules, everybody knows and expects him not to follow them.  Me, though…I'm supposed to follow them rigidly, which I used to do, until our planet was destroyed."

"Just…tell me what's going on, okay?"

"After Christmas, I go on trial for breaking these rules.  The judge is the god of neutrality, my other brother."

"So…you'd go to a prison for super powerful ethereal beings?"

"Not quite."

"Then where?"

"Because of the number of rules I've broken over my long, long, _long_ life…I would die and get sealed in Anakra, that's our version of Hell, for…well, eternity, I'd think.  Or at least a millennia or two."

"…You're not going to do the whole, "I broke the rules, now I'll pay for it," thing, are you?"

"Of course not," Silaris replied, chuckling.  "I've _been_ to Anakra.  I _reeeaaally_ don't want to go back."

"So don't show up," Trance offered.

"No can do.  If I don't show, they'll just bring everybody on the ship."  Trance glided over and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Let them," she purred.  "Then we can send _them_ to Anakra."

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"You see what he plans," a rather familiar voice stated, though all that could be seen was a pool of water in a stone basin.  In the water, Silaris and Trance could be seen on the Hydroponics deck of the Andromeda Ascendant.

"Indeed," replied another, unfamiliar voice, scratchy and beastial.  "The fool seeks to supplant and kill us, one by one, sentencing us to the punishment that he himself deserves."

"He plans nothing," a young, feminine, syrupy voice cooed.  "That Golden skinned warrior…she is a bad influence on him."

"He loves her," returned a somewhat hurt voice belonging to a female that sounded the same age.

"The sun sprite is not the problem," the familiar voice snapped.  "Even if she were, she is not of our blood, and therefore not subject to our punishment."

"As if you were ever subject to the same," a neutral, and also familiar, voice responded.  The other familiar voice tried to debate that, but the neutral voice rode on overtop of that one.  "REGARDLESS of that…he has brought us a good case.  We will take decisive action to be certain that no further plans are made."

"Good.  That is all that I ask.  I will, of course, stay on to be the prosecution."

"We would bar you from leaving whether you did or not," the neutral voice replied.  "After this, we have a long, long talk coming, you and I.  There are matters of rules that I have been meaning to correct for the last millennia or so."

"What of the other…creatures?  That is a large ship," the scratchy voice questioned.

"Should Silaris make a good enough case for his breach of the rules…nothing," the neutral voice stated, matter-of-factly.

"And should he not?"

"They will all die."


End file.
